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/ fry 

HISTORY 



ENGLAND AND FRANCE 



UNDER THE 



HOUSE OF LANCASTER; 



INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE EARLY REFORMATION. 



LONDON: 

JOHN MUERAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 

1852. 



J)A 2. 4 5" 
.23875" 



LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD-STREET. 



P 11 E F A C E. 



The period to which this work relates is one of 
great interest in the history both of England and of 
France. The events recorded, and the characters of 
those by whom they were brought about, deserve to 
be closely examined. Nor are the judgments which 
may be pronounced upon them confined in their 
bearing to those remote times ; they are of more 
general application. A careful consideration of the 
events may teach us how a great country may be 
brought to the verge of ruin by the follies and the 
crimes of faction; a dispassionate contemplation of 
the characters may show how little genius crowned 
with success is entitled to the admiration of reflecting 
minds when allied to cruelty and fraud. It has often- 
times been laid to the charge of authors that they 
encourage, when they should restrain, the propensity 
of the multitude, dazzled by the glories of war, to 
pass over the guilt of conquerors, the enemies of the 
human race. A sounder view, however, is not to be 
inculcated by passing over the talents of those men, 
and only dwelling on their faults. The historian 
must above all things be calm and impartial. For- 
bidden to extenuate crimes, he is alike forbidden to 



IV PREFACE. 

conceal merits, though never allowed to regard the 
one as a compensation for trie other. His conclusions 
are neither to be attack nor defence, invective nor 
panegyric; he is rather a judge than an advocate; 
on no account must he be a partisan. 

It is to be feared that, facts being closely followed 
and opinions plainly expressed, this work can find 
little favour either with the French or the English 
reader. Yet the time will come when those who 
have been most enamoured of warlike renown shall 
regard unjust aggression as not more wicked than it 
is disgraceful ; and when they to whose ambition the 
independence or the freedom of their country has 
been sacrificed, shall no longer, to the lasting injury 
of mankind, be revered as its benefactors, but regarded 
only as criminals upon a large scale. 

Nearly the whole of this work was written a con- 
siderable time ago. It is indeed above five years 
since the first portion of it was printed. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION :— 

Reformation .... 

Its early History imperfectly preserved 

Birth and Family of Wycliffe 

Education at Oxford .... 

His first attacks upon Home 

Warden of Baliol .... 

Doubtful if Warden of Canterbury Hall 

Sent to Negotiate at Bruges by Edward III 

His Doctrines and Preaching ... 

His poor Priests . . «| > 

Effects of their proceedings 

Circumstances of the Age favourable to his 
progress .... 

His Errors .... 

Rapid progress of the Reformation 

Proceedings against him 

The Great Schism 



1324. 
1340. 
1356. 



1374 



1377. 
1378. 
1381. 



The popular turbulence unconnected w 
Reformers .... 

1 382* Proceedings against them . 

Unjust accusations in later times . 
Dec. 29, 1384.— Wycliffe's retreat and death 

His great services 

Compared with Luther's 

Characters of both 
1394. Proceedings of his followers the Lollard 

Proceedings against them . 



th the 



10 
12 
13 
14 
15 

17 
19 
19 

23 
24 
24 
26 
28 
29 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



Of Richard II. and Henry IV. 

New doctrines of the Lollards 
1399. Henry IV. 's persecution . 
1401. Sawtre's case . 

Progress of the Reformers . 

Favoured by the Parliament 

Bradbie's case . 

Prince Henry's weak conduct 

Evil consequences of bad laws 



PAGE 

31 

32 

34 
35 
38 
39 
41 
42 
43 



HENRY V. : — 

1399. Usurpation of Henry IV. . 

His absurd pretence of title 

His character . 

He murders Richard 

His cruelty and treason 

Henry V.'s education and character 

Excesses of his youth 
March 19, 1413. — Prudent conduct on his accession 

Guided by interested views 

Detains James of Scotland . 

Takes part against the Reformers 

Oldcastle, Lord Cobham 

Attacked by the Clergy, 'and abandoned by 
the King ..... 

His character and conduct . 

Cited to appear before the Archbishop . 

Sent to the Tower .... 

His Trial in the Primate's Court 

Declared guilty of Heresy . 

His noble demeanour 

Escape from the Tower 

Mob dispersed by the King 

Executions ..... 

Continued persecutions of the Lollards 

Cobham taken by Lord Powis 



45 
48 
49 
49 
51 
53 
55 
56 
58 
58 
60 
60 

63 
64 
65 

66 

88 

72 
74 
75 
76 
78 
80 
82 



CONTENTS. 



Vll 



Brought before the Parliament, and sentenced 
to be hanged and burnt . 

Dec, 1417. — His Execution 

Reflections upon his fate 
Henry's earlier history resumed . 
State of France at Henry IV.'s death 
Preposterous claim upon France . 

1415. Negotiations .... 

The Clergy support Henry's claim 

Ground of his pretensions . 

Display of zeal for the Church 

Intrigue with the Duke of Burgundy 

Infamous character of the Duke . 

Henry's intentions avowed in the Parliament 
at Westminster .... 

Extraordinary aid granted . 

Debasement of the Coin 

Seizure of alien Priories 

Henry sends Representatives to Constance 

The Barons assist in preparations for War 

Money raised on the Crown and the Crown 
Jewels .... 

Alarm of the French Court 

French Embassy 

Negotiations fail 

Wickedness of the Invasion 

Conspiracy against Henry . 
Aug., 1415. — Illegal Trial of Conspirators 

The Expedition sails 
Sept. 22. — Siege and Capture of Harfleur 

Difficulties of Henry's situation . 

Forced to march on Calais 

Able conduct of the Retreat 
Oct. 25. — Battle of Agincourt 

Massacre of his Prisoners . 

Extent of the Victory 

His condition still hopeless 



83 
84 
86 
87 
87 
88 
89 
89 
91 
92 
93 
93 

97 
97 
98 
98 
98 
99 

101 
101 
102 
104 
106 
106 
109 
110 
111 
113 
113 
114 
117 
120 
121 
123 



Vlll 



CONTENTS. 



His great Talents 

Return to England . 

Joy of the Multitude 

Parliament joins in it 

French success near Harflem 
Aug., 1416. — Defeated by Bedford 

Sigismund's mediation rejected by Henry 

Burgundian's intrigues and ascendant . 

Plunder Henry's object 

Origin of Loans .... 

Warlike spirit of the Clergy 

Statute of Pro visors .... 

Henry's court of the Clergy 
May 29, 1415. — Council of Constance . 

Its cruelty and injustice 
July. — Conduct of Huss . 

His Execution .... 

Sept. 3. — Of Jerome of Prague 

His great Defence .... 

Henry's second Invasion 

Reconcilement of Burgundian with the Queen 

He advances on Paris 

Henry takes Caen ; cruelties 

Further successes .... 

Refuses terms . ... 

" Foul Raid," Scotch inroad 

Liberality of the Parliament 

France further distracted by the Factions 

Insurrection and Massacres of Paris 

Henry's affected devotions . 

Siege and capture of Cherbourg 

1418. Henry's great difficulties 
De Lore's achievements 
Negotiations at Alencon 
Bad faith of all parties 

1419. Siege of Rouen 



PAGJE 

123 
124 
125 
126 
128 
129 
130 
131 
132 
133 
134 
135 
135 
137 
139 
140 
140 
141 
141 
143 
145 
146 
147 
148 
149 
150 
152 
153 
156-158 
159 
160 
161 
162 
163 
166 
167 



CONTENTS. 

Sufferings of Inhabitants 
Their good conduct . 
Cruel treatment 
Henry's conduct 
Devastations of his Army 
Meeting of the Courts at Meulan 
Negotiations ..... 
Treaty of Dauphin and Burgundian 
Henry's desperate position . 
His able conduct .... 
Affairs still desperate, retrieved by accident 
Sept. 10, 1419. — Murder of Burgundian 
Dauphin's share in it 
General consternation 
Fatal consequences to Dauphin . 
Alliance of Queen and Burgundy with Henry 

1420. Negotiations of Arras 
May 21. — Treaty of Troyes 

Foolish Councils in England 

Neapolitan intrigue with Bedford 

Progress of Henry's arms . 

Wretched state of France . 

Dauphin's vain attempts to justify himself 

Re-action in his favour from Treaty of Troyes 

His able conduct .... 
June. — Siege of Montereau .... 

Henry's cruelty .... 

Nov. — Siege of Melun .... 

Henry's cruelty .... 

Court at Paris .... 

Henry's treatment of the King 

His assumption of power 

Base conduct of the Parliament and State 

Sentence against the Dauphin 

1421. Henry's reforms in Church and State . 
His reforms in England 



IX 



PAGE 

168 
169 
170 
171 
172 
173 
174 
175 
176 
180 
181 
184 
186 
190 
190 
191 
192 
193 
196 
198 
200 
201 
202 
203 
204 
205 
206 
207 
208 
209 
209 
210 
211 
211 
212 
213 



CONTENTS. 



March, 142 L— Battle of Beauge" . 

Misconduct of English after their defeat 
Share of the Scots in the Victory 
Henry's difficult position 
Proceedings in English Parliament 
New Expedition with large Army 

1422. Siege and capture of Meaux 
Henry's great difficulties 
Successes of the Dauphin . 
Henry's illness 
31.— His death 
His character . 

with Edward 



Aug 



Comparison 
Prince 



Influence of his Reign on 



III. 



and 



the English Con- 



stitution 
Taxes .... 
Coinage 

Recognition of Rights of the Commons 
Parliament consulted on Treaties 
Election Law ... 

Ecclesiastical Policy 
Council of Constance 
Concordat .... 
Correction of Clerical abuses 
Same in Normandy . 
Monastic Reforms 



Black 



PAGE 
214 

215 
216 
218 
219 
220 
221 
223 
226 
227 
229 
230 

233 

235 
236 
237 
238 
239 
239 
240 
241 
241 
243 
243 
244 



HENRY VI. :— 
Aug. 31 and Oct. 21, 1422.— Accession . . 246 

Bedford Regent in France .... 247 
His difficulties . . . .247 

Parliamentary settlement of Regency in England 249 
Character of Bedford . . . .251 

His difficult position in France . . .252 

Progress of Charles . . . . .252 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



1424. 



Am 



1423. Capture and recapture of Meulan 

Bedford's marriage . 
July 1. — Battle of Crevant . 

Age of Chivalry 

Scots assist Charles . 

Liberation of James I. 

Verneuil taken by Charles 
17.— Battle of Verneuil 

Verneuil surrenders . 

Difficulties of Charles 

Dissensions of Parties in England 

Characters of Beaufort and Gloster 

Jacqueline of Bavaria 

Gloster's marriage 

His imprudence alienates Philip . 

His quarrel with Beaufort . 

Parliament interferes 

Foolish interference of the Commons 
Foreign question „ 

1428. Bedford resolves to march on the Loire 

Siege of Orleans 
Feb. 12, 1429.— Battle of Eouverai (Herrings 

Desperate situation of Charles 

Joan of Arc .... 

Interview with Baudricourt 

Goes to Charles at Chinon 

Her behaviour 

Examined there and at Poictiers 

Her influence and success . 

Encouragement of the French 

English Army downcast 

Siege of Orleans raised 
June 18. — Battle of Patay . 

Charles's successes 

Marches into Champagne . 

Takes Troyes and Chalons-sur-Marne 



1425. 



1427. 



in the 



PAGE 

253 
-253 

254- 

255 

256 

256 

257 

258 

259 

260 

260 

261 

264 

264 

265 

267 

267 

268 
269 

270 
270 
271 

272 
272 
274 
275 
276 
278 
279 
281 
282 
282 
283 
284 
285 



XI 1 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


July 


17, 1429. — Crowned at Eheims 


. 286 




Honours to Joan 


. 286 




Many Towns surrender 


i . 287 




Skilful movements of Bedford 


. 288 




Bedford's able conduct 


. 288 




Prince of Orange's Expedition 


. 291 




Siege of Compiegne . 


. 291 


May 


14, 1430.— Capture of the Maid . 


. 292 




Her Trial .... 


. 293 




Recantation .... 


. 294 


May 


30, 1431.— Execution . 


. 295 




Bedford's criminality 


. 295 




Charles's ingratitude 


. 297 




Hatred of the English 


. 298 




Its consequences 


. 299 




Henry VI. 's Coronation at Paris 


. 300 




English prospects in France 


. 302 




Bedford's opinion of them . 


. 303 




His proceedings in consequence . 


. 303 




Burgundian alliance weakened 


. 305 




The War languishes 


. 305 


1432 


Bedford's second Marriage 


. 306 




Philip's complaints . . . 


. 307 




His alienation .... 


. 308 




The Ecorcheurs 


. 308 




Character of Henry VI. 


. 309 


1434. 


His interference in pifairs . 


. 311 




Parties of Beaufort and Gloster . 


. 312 


Aug. 


5, 1435. — Congress of Arras 


. 313 




The English prevent a General Peace . 


. 314 




Philip's scruples . 


. 315 


Sept. 


1 4. — Bedford's death . 


. 315 


Sept. 


21. — Philip makes peace with Charles . 


. 316 




General joy at the Peace of Arras 


. 316 




Indignation of the English 


. 317 




Their reprehensible proceedings . 


. 318 



CONTENTS. 



Xlll 



Drive Philip into hostilities 

Duke of York Regent in France . 

His character ....... 

His indiscreet conduct 
April 17, 1436. — Surrender of Paris to Charles 

The English retire into Normandy 

Policy of Charles ..... 
1437-8. — Events of the War no longer so important 
1450. — Charles reconquers Normandy . . , 

1451-3. — He reconquers Guienne 

English conquest ended .... 



English Constitution under Henry VI. 
Increased power of Parliament . 
The Regency Law . 
Bad proceedings of Parliament 
Change in Election Law . 
Proceedings respecting Royal Marriages 



French Constitution under Henry VI, . 

The Regenc} r Law . ... 

Its uncertainty and changes 

Effects of the Invasion on the Constitution 

Proceedings as to the States-General 
Nov. 1439. — Ordinance of Orleans 

Grant of Taille and Standing Army 

Obstacles to executing the Ordinance . 
1445. Charles carries it into execution . 

Avoids again calling the States . 

1448. Adds the Franc-archers to the Compagnies 
d'Ordonnance ..... 

1455. Makes changes in the Feudal Army 

Alarm of the Commons enables him to effect 
all his changes ..... 

Similar effects of alarm in later times . 



PAGE 

319 
319 
319 
320 
321 
321 
322 
323 
324 
324 
324 

325 
325 
326 
328 
328 
330 

330 

331 
332 
333 
334 
344 
344 
345 
345 
346 

347 

348 

348 
349 



XIV 



CONTENTS. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Note. 


Page. 




Note. 


Page. 


I. 


353. 


Wycliffe. 


XXXVIII. 


392. 


II. 


353. 


Wycliffe. 


XXXIX. 


393. 


III. 


355. 


Wycliffe's works. 


XL. 


394. 


IV. 


355. 


Wycliffe's motives. 






V. 


357. 


His works. 


XLI. 


396. 


VI. 


358. 


Romish Church. 


XLII. 


397. 


VII. 


358. 


.Reformation. 


XLIII. 


398. 


VIII. 


359. 


Wycliffe's trial. 


XLIV. 


399. 


IX. 


359. 


Lollard opinions. 


XLV. 


400. 


X. 


359. 


The tumults. 


XLVI. 


401. 


XI. 


360. 


The tumults. 


XL VII. 


402. 


XII. 


360. 


Proceedings against Wy- 


XLVIII. 


405. 






cliffites. 


XLIX. 


407. 


XIII. 


360. 


Stats. 5 & 6 Ric. II. 


L. 


409. 


XIV. 


36 i. 


Wycliffe's works. 


LI. 


410. 


XV. 


362. 


Luther. 


LII. 


411. 


XVI. 


362. 


Bishop Spencer. 


Lin. 


413. 


XVII. 


363. 


Act against Lollards. 


LIV. 


415. 


XVIII. 


363. 


Sawtre's case. 


LV. 


417. 


XIX. 


3u4. 


Petition of Commons. 


LVI. 


418. 


XX. 


364. 


Henry IV.'s usurpation. 


LVII. 


422. 


XXI. 


365. 


Richard II.'s death. 


LVIII. 


425. 


XXII. 


366. 


The questions respecting 


LIX. 


427. 






him. 


LX. 


430. 


XXIII. 


369. 


Henry IV.'s conduct. 


LXI. 


431. 


XXIV. 


369. 


Henry V.'s youth. 


LXII. 


432. 


XXV. 


370. 


James I. of Scotland. 


LXIII. 


436. 


XXVI. 


371. 


Cobham's peerage. 


LXIV. 


437. 


XXVII. 


372. 


Cobham's arrest. 


LXV. 


441. 


XXVIII 


373 


Cobham's trial. 






XXIX. 


378. 


Cobham's escape. 


LXVI. 


442. 


XXX. 


378. 


Cobham's sentence. 






XXXI. 


378 


Origin of Henry's invasion. 


LXVII. 


455. 


XXXII. 


381. 


Persecution of Reformers. 


LXVIII. 


460. 


XXXIII 


381 


The Burgundian intrigue. 


LXIX. 


465. 


XXXIV. 


389. 


Negotiations before the 


LXX. 


465. 






Invasion. 


LXXI. 


467. 


XXXV 


389. 


Henry's conduct. 


LXXII. 


467. 


XXXVI. 
XXXVII. 


390. 
391. 


Battle of Agincourt. 
Marshal Boucicault. 


LXXIII. 


472. 



Henry's proceedings. 

Battle near Harfleur. 

Finance of the 14th and 
15th Centuries. 

Provisors and Provisions. 

Henry's second Expedition. 

Negotiations at Mantes. 

Scotch Inroad (Foul Raid). 

Evidence of Statutes. 

Negotiations at Alencon. 

Murder at Montereau. 

Sentence on the Dauphin. 

Battle of Beauge. 

Henry's last Expedition. 

Black Prince. 

Privilege of Parliament. 

Progress of Parliament. 

Clerical abuses. 

Regency, 1423. 

Cardinal Beaufort. 

Joan of Arc. 

Bedford's conduct. 

Joan's supposed escape. 

Feudal Councils. 

Charles V. 

Jean-sans-Peur. 

Popular clamour. 

Regency, 1788 and 1811. 

French and English Con- 
stitutions. 

States - General before 
Henry V. 

Compagnies (robber bands). 

French Taxes. 

Henry V.'s demeanour. 

Coutumiers and Codes. 

Mobs of Paris. 

Regency in France. 

References to Works. 



ENGLAND AND FRANCE 



UNDER THE 



HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE EEFOKMATIOK 

The origin of the Reformation, certainly in England, 
probably in Europe also, 1 may be traced to the times 
of which we are about to treat. The foundations of 
this great change were laid in the two preceding 
reigns, but the earliest, and, if justly considered, the 
most important, passages of Henry the Fifth's life 
were intimately connected with it ; and, in order to 
form an estimate of his individual merits, as well as 
to comprehend fully the history of his age, we must 
in the first place endeavour to obtain an accurate view 
of that important event. This, however, is rendered 
extremely difficult, by the mutual animosity of the 
contending parties, which spreads its influence over 
the writings of the time, and still more by the cir- 

1 Note I. 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

cumstance that the authors whom we must consult 
belong for the most part to the Lancastrian party as 
well as to the Romish church ; while the very few who 
take the opposite side not only are of a much later 
elate, but seem to make up for their scanty numbers 
and their obscure station by an abundant acrimony 
against the ecclesiastical establishment. Nevertheless, 
the attempt must be made to ascertain the truth by 
comparing and balancing probabilities, when testi- 
mony fails to command our belief, or we have not the 
means of bringing its credit to a satisfactory test 
through the help of original records — the safest 
guides of the historical inquirer. 

In the last years of Edward the Third's reign, the 
attention of men was drawn to a body of 
priests, who, with their lay followers, 
formed a new sect, under the teaching and the guid- 
ance of Dr. John Wycliffe. This remarkable person 
was born about the year 1324, in a parish of the 
same name in Yorkshire, upon a manor which had 
belonged to his family ever since the Conquest. 1 
Educated at Oxford, he had there acquired in an 
ample measure the learning of the times, had become 
a profound theologian, and displayed an extraordinary 
capacity for the subtleties, metaphysical as well as 
religious, of scholastic controversy. In these talents 
and accomplishments he is confessed by his most im- 
placable adversaries, the clerical impugners of his 
doctrines, to have had no superior, if he had any 

1 Leland's Itinerary, v. 99. Collect., ii. 319. 



THE REFORMATION. 3 

equal ; x and his life was allowed by all to be as pure 
as his endowments were eminent. 

The reputation which he gained at the University 
was proportionate to these great merits. He soon ob- 
tained a fellowship at Merton, which, after leaving 
Queen's, he had made his college, and which was at 
that time the residence of many learned men \ among 
others of William Ockham, called the singular or in- 
vincible doctor, and Thomas Bradwardine, the pro- 
found doctor. Wycliffe himself, having early devoted 
his attention in a peculiar maimer to the study of 
the Scriptures, was termed the evangelical or gospel 
doctor, and he received the appointment of divinity 
lecturer to the University. Soon after this a contro- 
versy arose respecting the mendicant orders, and he 
took part against them with the majority of the 
Oxford men, led on by their former chancellor, Fitz- 
relph, now Archbishop of Armagh. About the same 
time Wvcliffe exposed sever ehy some other 
corruptions of the church, especially the 
simoniacal practices prevailing generally, but most of 
all at Rome. 2 

In 1361 he obtained the wardenship of Baliol Col- 
lege, and a few years after he is commonly said to 
have held that of Canterbury Hall, recently founded 
by Archbishop I slip, who, to make way for him, 
sanctioned, we are told, the removal, on account of 
alleged misconduct, of the person first appointed. 
Upon that prelate's decease, however, his successor 

1 Note II. 2 Note III. 

B 2 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

disputed the validity of the whole proceeding, and 
deprived Wycliffe, who appealed to the Pope ; but 
the sentence was affirmed in 1370, after a protracted 
litigation. This accident is by some thought - to 
have given his mind a bias against the Romish 
church. But nothing can be more groundless than 
the suspicion, even if we believe that the Master 
of Canterbury Hall and the reformer were the same 
individual, of which grave doubts have been enter- 
tained. For we have seen that his attacks on 
Rome were begun in 1356; his hostility to the friars 
commenced in 1360 at the latest, and Canterbury 
Hall was not even founded till 1361, nor the papal 
decision against him pronounced till nine years later. 
It is much more probable that the Pope's mind was 
biassed against him by the regular clergy, to whom 
Wycliffe had extended his hostility, originally pointed 
at the mendicant orders alone. 2 

The fame which he had obtained at the University 
appears to have recommended him first for promo- 
tion in the church, and then to the favour of Edward 
the Third, who made him one of his chaplains, and 
bestowed on him a prebend annexed to Worcester 
Cathedral, and the living of Lutterworth, in Leicester- 
shire. 3 But his zeal in the contest with the Men- 
dicants, and his writings against Home, further 
recommended him to that prince as qualified for 
important service, and he was accordingly appointed 

1 Note IV. 2 Notes IV. and V. 

3 Massingberd's History of the Reformation, ch. iv. 



THE REFORMATION. 5 

one of the commissioners to treat of ecclesiastical 
differences, and chiefly of the papal claims to church 
patronage, with the Pope's envoys at Bruges. Thither 
he repaired, with his colleagues ; and there he en- 
joyed, in the course of the negotiation, an opportmiity 
of taking a nearer view than he before had of the 
Holy See's mingled craft and pride. 

It may well be supposed that this lesson was not 
thrown away. Upon his return to his chair at 
Oxford, his invectives were no longer confined to the 
friars. He commenced a general attack upon the 
clergy, but especially upon the higher orders in the 
hierarchy, with the Pope himself at its head. Then, 
carrying his assault from the polity of the church 
and the discipline of its pastors to the doctrines which 
they taught, he denied the conversion of the sacra- 
mental elements by the priest's consecration, holding 
that they retained their original nature, and were 
only to the eye of faith the Saviour's body and 
blood. 

Although this opinion impugned the fundamental 
and distinguishing dogma of the Pomish creed, yet 
there can be no doubt that the more practical doc- 
trines with which he accompanied the promulgation 
of his dissent excited a far more serious alarm among 
the clergy ; for he denied altogether that prayers had 
any special efficacy when offered up in the case of 
individuals, or possessed a higher virtue than general 
petitions, a tenet that in practice struck at the mass, 
which, however, he had not attacked. He held that 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

excommunication is only lawful of such as lie under 
divine displeasure, not to be levelled against any one 
at the will of the prelate, still less to be employed as 
a means of enforcing payments or service to the 
church. He affirmed the utter inefficacy, and even 
nullity, of all acts done by priests living in the com- 
mission of sin. He maintained the right of the civil 
governor to seize upon the possessions of a delinquent 
clergy ; and this doctrine he extended to tithe, re- 
garding it as a mere charity, the payment of it as a 
voluntary act, and the withholding it from clerks 
who led sinful lives as a right, if not a duty. 1 He 
regarded the temporal possessions, generally, of a 
wealthy establishment, but chiefly those of its digni- 
taries, as inconsistent with the precepts of the Gospel : 
monastic institutions he declared to be unchristian, 
and the collections of mendicant friars simoniacal. 
He proceeded to censure indulgences and pilgrimages 
as expedients for enriching the clergy, and not for 
edifying their flocks. Ascending to the head of 
the Catholic church, he rejected the notion of the 
Pope's infallibility; confined his jurisdiction to his 
own bishopric; asserted that St. Peter had never 
given him any greater powers than other priests pos- 
sess ; affirmed that he might be accused and con- 
demned like any other prelate ; pronounced his only 
authority over foreign states to be derived from the 

1 The passages in his work on " Clerks Possessionem," cited usually 
as by Vaughan, ii. 285, to prove the opinion of Wycliffe on the evil 
lives of clerks disentitling them to tithe, do not prove it ; but he is 
known to have held the doctrine. 



THE REFORMATION. 7 

assent of their temporal rulers ; and denied altogether 
his right to lay down or to expound rules of faith, 
appealing to the Scriptures as the only canon of 
orthodoxy to all Christian men. 

These opinions, alike remarkable for their novelty 
and their boldness, were promulgated both by his 
own preaching and by that of his "poor priests," as 
they were called, converts attached to him, and who 
carried them all over the country, supplying, by their 
unwearied zeal in teaching, the want of that great 
instrument, the happy invention of a later period, for 
the rapid and universal instruction of the world. 

It is not easy to conceive the impression produced 
by the New Doctrines, recommended, as they were, 
not more by the station and the character of their 
author than by the force with which they appealed 
to the feelings, the reason, and the interests of man- 
kind. The load seemed to be removed under which 
the human mind had for so many ages lain prostrate. 
No longer compressed, it again manifested the elas- 
ticity which had never been destroyed, and, making 
a vigorous effort for entire relief, sprang forward to 
shake off the whole of its burthen. The gross and 
manifest absurdity of some received dogmas thus 
attacked by Wycliffe ; the revolting injustice of 
others; the grievous oppression wrought by their 
application ; the misconduct to which they so easily 
lent themselves ; the abuses which they manifestly 
engendered, so revolting to all the strongest feelings 
of our nature — were quite sufficient to gain a favour- 



8 INTRODUCTION. ' 

able reception for the tenets of the Reformers, even 
without the inducements which they so largely held 
out, by appealing to the worldly interests, and, gene- 
rally, to the secular views of men. 

Nor did Wycliffe and his disciples, the "poor 
priests," neglect the means best suited to win the 
confidence and command the respect of the people. 
They affected the most primitive simplicity of man- 
ners ; they appeared only in coarse raiment of a 
russet hue, usually going about barefooted ; they fed 
on the most frugal and homely fare ; they partook of 
no popular amusements, nor assisted at any of the 
sports and revels in which the vulgar of the times so 
greatly delighted. Yet their demeanour was not 
harsh or repulsive — it was not even severe ; their 
speech was rather winning and bland ; and it was 
observed that they all used the same cast of language, 
expounding or declaiming in one common style. 
Though they held that marriage was not merely 
permitted to the ministers of the Gospel, but enjoined 
to the same extent in their case as in that of all 
others, yet they abstained from it when the indul- 
gence seemed likely to interfere with their sacred 
functions. They diligently traversed the country in 
all directions, exhorting and teaching in private, 
comforting the sick, sustaining the dying, inveighing 
with an unprecedented boldness against the corrup- 
tions of the church, as well as the vices of her clergy ; 
above all, instant in season and out of season in 
zealously preaching the word, and openly expounding 



THE REFORMATION. 9 

the Scriptures. Far the greatest of all the holds that 
Wycliffe had upon the people was obtained by his 
unlocking to mankind the sacred volume which the 
decrees of the Romish clergy had shut up from them. 
He himself translated into the vulgar tongue the 
whole of the Bible, only detached portions of which 
had before been given in English ; he caused copies 
of his version to be multiplied ; and the duty of 
constant preaching, whether for inculcating religious 
truth or for opening the Scriptures to the congrega- 
tion, was the clerical function which he most peremp- 
torily enjoined. The churchmen, aware betimes what 
a mighty influence this bestowed, and how dangerous 
to their power such instruction must prove, . launched 
out as much against the translation and explanation 
of the Bible as against any part of his proceedings. 
"The Gospels (says the Canon of Leicester 1 ) which 
Christ gave the clergy, that they might dole out por- 
tions according to the wants of the lay folk, Wycliffe 
rendered from the Latin into the Anglican, not the 
angelic tongue ; making every layman, and even 
woman that could read, more knowing than educated 
clerks themselves ; thus casting the evangelical pearl 
before swine, and turning the gem of the priest into 
a sport for the people." 

With the means so judiciously employed by the 
great reformer to propagate his doctrines, and the 
merits of the doctrines themselves, there conspired 
very powerfully the circumstances of society at the 

1 H. Knighton, 2644. 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

time when he began his ministry. The thick dark- 
ness which overspread Europe for several centuries, 
and was most impenetrable about the middle of the 
eleventh, had been gradually dispersing in England 
ever since the time of the Norman conquest; and 
during the fourteenth century there was a sensible 
progress made towards a state of greater refinement. 
Not only more learned and more inquiring men filled 
the higher places in society, some of whom indeed rank 
among the English classics of the present day, 1 but the 
middle orders of the people began to be somewhat 
better informed. The discipline of the feudal system 
had been materially relaxed ; there had grown up the 
important class of traders ; and the inhabitants of the 
towns had become a considerable body in the commu- 
nity. Even the labourers, the bulk of whom were still 
in a state of servitude or villenage, partook in some 
degree of the general movement by which the frame of 
society was advancing to improvement, and complaints 
were occasionally heard of the lord's conduct and the 
vassal's sufferings, to the extent of even questioning the 
right by which the one was held in a sort of property 
by the other. There is no better test of the progress 
which a people are making at any given time than 
the improvement of their jurisprudence ; and Sir M. 
Hale, writing late in the seventeenth century, declares 
that, from the legal reforms of Edward the First, 

1 Langley lived early in the fourteenth century, the author of 
" Piers Plowman's Vision." Gower and Chaucer, even Ocleye and 
Lydgate, to say nothing of Ockham or Scotus, were all contemporaries 
or immediate predecessors of Wycliffe. 



THE KEFOKMATION. 1 1 

who is often called the English Justinian, down to his 
own day, our law had received but little amendment 
though four hundred years had elapsed. 1 But, above 
all, the hold so long maintained over men's minds by 
the church of Home had been loosened. The dis- 
putes between the Pope and the Kings of England on 
the claims of the Holy See both to contribution and 
to clerical patronage, had been of long continuance. 
Edward the Third had carried on against it a contest 
in some degree successful upon those points. Severe 
laws had been passed to prevent any interference with 
the right of presentation to livings, and put down the 
practice of appealing to Rome; 2 the papal usurpa- 
tions were become a standing topic of popular invec- 
tive 3 and even of poetical derision; and, as the 
greater number of the clergy naturally sided with the 
Holy See in those disputations, one inevitable conse- 
quence of the controversies which marked the age was, 
to lessen the confidence of the people in their spiritual 
guides. 

Making his appearance in such a condition of so- 
ciety, and addressing a people in these circumstances, 
Wycliffe must be allowed to have had important helps 
in recommending his doctrines, though very far in- 
ferior to those which aided the Reformers of the six- 
teenth century. Nor should we regard the errors 
which he mingled with his sounder opinions as likely 

1 History of the English Law, 163. 

2 Stat, 25 Edward III., c. 6 (a.d. 1350) ; 27 Edward III., c. 1 ; 
38 Edward III., s. 2. 

3 Note VI. 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

to obstruct their acceptance among the bulk of his 
countrymen. His fanatical notions respecting pro- 
perty, as held by the tenure of grace, and liable to be 
forfeited by the sin of the owner, a notion taken from 
the feudal law but plainly recommended to Wycliffe 
by its bearing upon the controversy with the Pope 
and the clergy ; his yet more groundless speculation, 
manifestly arising out of the same conflict, that to 
grant a perpetual ownership in any estate passes even 
the power of the Deity ; his denial of the clergy's 
right to hold temporal possessions at all beyond the 
scantiest portion by which life can be sustained ; 
these errors or exaggerations, if they did not rather 
add to the favour which his tenets found with the 
multitude, certainly detracted nothing from their po- 
pularity ; and the truth of the maxim was anew illus- 
trated, that the progress of reform, where great abuses 
exist, runs little risk of being obstructed by the errors 
of its apostles, provided they only avoid the most 
fatal mistake of all, that of damping the zeal, thwart- 
ing the exertions, and balking the expectations of 
their followers. 

The success of the new doctrines thus preached, 
thus recommended, and addressed to a community 
thus circumstanced, appears to have been rapid and 
extensive. We are told by the most implacable of 
WyclifFe's adversaries that one half, if not the ma- 
jority, of the people, had become his converts. 1 Those 
adversaries confess, what it ever costs partisans much 

1 H. Knighton, 2664. See note VII. 



THE KEFOEMATION. 13 

to admit in favour of an enemy, that the " sect was 
held in the greatest honour ; " l and we have added to 
this testimony a plain indication of the importance 
which it had acquired, in the known fact that the two 
most powerful lords in the beginning of Richard the 
Second's reign, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 
his uncle and chief minister, and Percy the Earl 
Marshal, were Wycliffe's openly declared partisans, 
appearing by his side when put on his trial before 
the Primate and Bishop of London, and exposing 
themselves in his behalf to great personal risk from a 
mob unfavourable to the Reformer's doctrine. 

That this rapid progress of Wycliffe's sect early 
arrested the attention of the clergy and of their spi- 
ritual head, may easily be supposed. Courtney, Bishop 
of London, a prelate of extraordinary zeal, and holding 
the loftiest notions of clerical discipline as well as of 
the clergy's authority, received a bull from Pope Gre- 
gory XL, directed to the Primate and himself, and 
dated in the last year of Edward's reign, to whom a 
similar bull was likewise addressed, but neither arrived 
before that prince's death. The Pope charged them 
all to proceed strenuously against Wycliffe, whose 
opinions he pronounced to be damnable heresies ; 
required them to cast him into prison, and to examine 
him strictly, reporting his answers ; and desired that, 
should he escape, they might summon him to appear 
before his Holiness himself, wheresoever he might 
happen to be, within three months. 

1 H. Knighton, 2664. See note VII. 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

In compliance with the exigency of these rescripts, 
Wycliffe was examined before the Bishop of London 
in the winter of 1377-8, when the Duke of Lancaster 
and Lord Percy, as has been related, appeared by his 
side, and" even took an active part in his behalf. 
They had a sharp dispute with Bishop Courtney upon 
their demanding that Wycliffe should be allowed a 
chair during his examination. The duke, in his 
altercation with the prelate, waxed warm, and taunted 
him with trusting to the influence of his family, who 
might, peradventure, he said, find it all they could 
do to maintain their own ground. The populace, 
who were no friends either of Wycliffe or the duke, 
rose to revenge the insult which they thought had 
been put upon their diocesan ; they sacked Lancaster's 
palace, in the Savoy ; and he and Percy so narrowly 
escaped, that a man was killed, being taken for the 
latter. Nor could the tumult be appeased until the 
bishop himself, who may well be supposed to have 
had some hand in exciting it, interposed and besought 
the multitude to disperse. 1 The result of the inquiry 
was, an order of the prelate's, putting Wycliffe to 
silence. He was afterwards cited to appear before 
the Primate and other prelates, at Lambeth; but 
the humour of the populace now took a different 
direction, when led on by the citizens of London, 
always attached to the new doctrine. They broke 
into the council-chamber, and occasioned so great 
an interruption to the proceedings, that the bishop 

1 Note VIII. 



THE REFORMATION. 15 

yielded to a message from the Dowager Princess of 
Wales, and affected to be satisfied with Wycliffe's 
explanations : so that the inquiry dropped altogether 
during the remainder of Gregory's pontificate. He 
died in the following spring, and Urban VI., his 
successor, had not filled the chair of St. Peter 
six months, when his seat was contested by the 
election of Clement VII., and the famous schism 
began, which for forty years split the church into 
two parties, headed by two pontiffs, of whom 
one was established at Avignon, and the other at 
Pome. 1 

This important event naturally exercised a great 
influence upon the persecution which had been com- 
menced against Wycliffe and his followers. The 
English clergy no longer had the undivided authority 
of the Holy See to support their pretensions ; and 
the existence of two rival popes, each claiming the 
same prerogative over the faith, the same authority 
over the discipline of the church, nay, each pretend- 
ing to the same attribute of infallible judgment, and 
each deriving his title as sole successor to Saint Peter 
from the immediate operation of the Holy Ghost upon 
the minds of the same electors, had a direct and 
powerful tendency to weaken the hold hitherto main- 
tained by that proud hierarchy over men's minds, 
and mightily aided the attacks of all its enemies. 

1 Gregory had restored trie papal residence to Rome after it had 
been for seventy years fixed at Avignon. Urban VI. continued at 
Rome, Clement VII. at Avignon. 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

It should seem that these considerations encouraged 
Wycliffe in his course ; for we find his adversaries 
complaining that, during the next two years, his 
assaults upon the established faith were carried on 
with less reserve. He is accused of treating the 
doctrine of the real presence not merely with open 
and peremptory denial, but even with unseemly ridi- 
cule, describing the priest's power of consecration as 
incapable of rendering inanimate matter more worthy 
of adoration than the meanest animal. 1 It is, however, 
important to remark, that none of the contemporary 
authorities intimate the least suspicion of any con- 
nexion whatever between his doctrines, or his manner 
of preaching them, and the great insurrection of the 
common people which broke out about this period. 
This accusation was reserved for the zeal of the 
Romanists in our own times, 2 and we may here stop 
for a moment to show how entirely it is destitute of 
support. 

Whatever tendency may be ascribed to the invec- 
tives of the Reformers, whether it be that they were 
addressed to the upper and middle classes, or that 
the common people remained wholly indifferent to 
them, certain it is that no attempt was made by the 
churchmen of the day to connect the new doctrine 
with the seditious movements, or to represent its 
professors as having endangered the public peace by 
their preaching. Had there been the least pretence 
for bringing such a charge against them, we may be 

1 Note IX. 2 Ling. iii. 236 (Ric. II.). 



THE REFORMATION. 17 

well assured that adversaries so zealous as Walsing- 
ham and Knighton would eagerly have caught hold 
of the topic, more especially when we find them 
dwelling on the wickedness of the people as having 
called down the judgments of Heaven. 1 Their silence 
affords a conclusive argument in favour of the Ee- 
formers; but it is not the only ground on which 
their defence may be rested. The proceedings of 
the multitude proved them to be actuated by views 
and feelings the very reverse of those which guided 
the followers of Wycliffe. The insurgents made the 
schoolmasters whom they captured swear never to 
teach the children. 2 The oath by which they bound 
themselves was directed against the Duke of Lan- 
caster by name ; 3 and they murdered a Franciscan 
friar merely because he was the duke's favourite. 4 
The confessions of the original leaders declared that 
their plan was to spare the mendicant friars in the 
massacre. 5 The complaints which the Lords made to 
the Parliament afford the last proof which I shall 
give of the same position. These complaints were 
directed against the villeins some time before the 
tumults, and show that the gathering storm had been 
observed. Reference is made to similar outbreaks 
which had taken place in France ; but not a word 
is said of the new doctrine or its preachers. 6 In 
truth, the insurrection was confined to the lower 

1 Note X. 2 Hoi., ii. 746. 

3 They swore never to have a king called John (Lancaster's name). 
— T. Wals., 258. 

4 T. Wals., 263. 5 Hoi., ii. 751. 6 Note XI. 

C 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

orders, especially the peasants and villeins, and with 
that class the Reformers and their opinions had not 
found favour. 

But though there can be no doubt that the Re- 
formers were wholly without any share in the insur- 
rection, yet that event proved unfavourable to their 
doctrines. Men were so much alarmed at the scenes 
which for some weeks had been enacted of insubordi- 
nation and bloodshed, followed by military execution, 
and then by judicial vengeance, 1 that they were easily 
disposed to regard with aversion any invectives against 
the Establishment, and to distrust assemblages of 
people brought together without the sanction, if not 
against the will, of the constituted authorities. Cer- 
tain it is that the Duke of Lancaster, moved probably 
by such considerations, no longer proved so warm a 
partisan of Wycliffe. For when, upon the Primate's 
murder in the late tumults, Courtney succeeded, he 
summoned a synod of prelates and doctors, which 
pronounced the new doctrines partly heretical, partly 
erroneous, but all execrable : 2 and when the King 
issued a royal mandate to the University of Oxford, 
commanding the expulsion of all who harboured the 
persons or partook of the opinions of Wycliffe and 
his followers, 3 Nicolas of Hertford, Rypingham, and 
John Aston, as well as directing search for their 
books, those individuals made their appeal from the 

1 1500 executions took place. 

2 T. Wals., 305. He omits the royal mandate, and only says 
Courtney published his conclusions. 

3 Note XII. 



THE REFORMATION. 19 

University to Lancaster, who rejected it, and recom- 
mended their submitting to the decrees which had 
been pronounced. Wycliffe had appealed to the 
parliament against the synod's sentence, and had 
prayed for various reforms in ecclesiastical discipline, 
suggesting also, that to supply the wants of the 
nation and of the poor, the superfluous revenues of 
the church might be appropriated, by which he was 
well known to mean the revenues of the dignitaries 
and of the monasteries ; but he only obtained a par- 
tial success. An act had recently passed, enabling 
the crown to command by writ the seizure of all per- 
sons convicted before the bishops of preaching the 
heretical doctrines, in order to their being dealt with 
by the spiritual power ; and the episcopal certificate 
was to be the warrant for the writ. It was now re- 
presented by the Commons, as is believed, at Wy- 
cliffe 's suggestion,, that this act had never received 
their assent, and they desired that it might be re- 
pealed, as subjecting the laity to a jurisdiction from 
which they had always been exempt. The King and 
the Lords concurring, the act was repealed. 1 

The defence which the Reformers, and especially 
their great leader, made for themselves when called 
upon to answer for their opinions in the course of 
these proceedings, has been the subject of much com- 
ment and some triumph, both among the writers of 
the Romish party and among writers who, like Mr. 
Hume, holding all religion cheap, regard the con- 

1 Note XIII. 

c 2 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

scientious believer with contempt for his anxiety to 
clear his own faith from error, and to protect the 
practice of his fellow Christians from abuse. If the 
accounts which have reached us of the statements 
made by these honest men, when severely questioned 
and loudly threatened, be considered with attention 
and with candour, I do not think that they will be 
found to justify the censures somewhat exultingly 
pronounced upon them by their adversaries of both 
descriptions. Two documents, supposed to contain 
the substance of what Wycliffe said or read when 
examined before the Bishop of London and the Lam- 
beth synod, and two others, containing Nicolas of 
Hertford and John Aston's statements, set forth their 
defences, as given in English by H. Knighton. T. 
Walsingham has given a more full and articulate 
statement, in which Wycliffe goes through all the 
positions condemned, and justifies or explains his 
belief. But although he certainly takes advantage of 
whatever had been left doubtful or equivocal in his 
opinions to soften them, and so gain favour with the 
judges ; although it is very likely that his doctrines, 
when preached without any explanation, might appear 
more unqualified and more widely departing from 
the orthodox standard ; and although the expressions 
ascribed to his two disciples import a large admission 
of error ; yet are there several very obvious consi- 
derations, which suffice to remove from those eminent 
persons the suspicion of having, through faint-heart- 
edness, abjured their tenets when pressed by perse- 



THE KEFOEMATION. 21 

cution. The main reliance of their adversaries is 
upon the explanations given touching the denial of 
transubstantiation. Now, though Wycliffe expressly 
says, in one of his defences, that the " bread is very 
God's body," yet he adds that "it is in the form of 
bread, and in another manner God's body than it is 
in heaven :" and he compares the believer, or com- 
municant, to a person looking at a statue, or picture 
(image), and " never thinking whether it be of oak 
or of ash, but only thinking of him whom it repre- 
sents." 1 In the other defence, he expresses himself 
with more leaning towards the real presence, com- 
paring the twofold nature of the elements to the two- 
fold nature of Christ ; but then, to show that there 
is no quailing before the tribunal, he boldly charges 
the synod that condemned his opinions with having 
declared Christ and the saints heretics, adding, that 
the earthquake which happened at the time was a 
manifestation of the divine displeasure, like that 
which was shown at the Saviour's passion. 2 

It is very true that Nicolas of Hertford and John 
Aston do, according to the account of H. Knighton, 3 
declare their belief of the consecration changing the 
elements into the very body of Christ, as he was born 
of Mary, suffered, and rose again; and they avow 
that they believe according to the Scriptures, but 
also as the Holy Church believes, to which they sub- 
mit themselves. But it is material to observe, that 

1 H. Knighton, 2674. 2 Ibid., 2650. 

3 Ibid., 2655-6. 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

John Aston affirms the subject to be one which passes 
his comprehension; and it is quite impossible that 
Nicolas of Hertford can have made the abjuration set 
down for him, because he immediately, according to 
the same author, hastened to Rome and laid his tenets 
before the Pope, who, with the advice of the conclave, 
condemned them as heretical, and declared him de- 
serving of death, but only cast him into prison be- 
cause he was an English subject, and his country had 
taken Urban's part against Clement. In that confine- 
ment Nicolas lingered, till, in the course of a popular 
tumult, his prison was broken open, and he made his 
escape ; but, returning to England, he was con- 
demned by the Primate to perpetual imprisonment. 1 
So that nothing can be more clear than the total im- 
possibility of the account being true which Knighton 
gives of his abjuration. We may further bear in 
mind that Wycliffe himself did not escape punish-' 
ment by his explanations ; for he was expelled from 
Oxford, and never more suffered to lecture nor even 
reside there. 

The charge, then, of having abjured their opinions, 
appears in no sense to be justly made against those 
pious men: and when Knighton taunts them with 
escaping death by their recantation, he forgets that 
up to the period in question no one had ever suffered 
capitally for heresy, nor was there, until the beginning 
of the following reign, any law passed to punish it 
capitally. 

1 H. Knighton, 2657. 



THE REFORMATION". 23 

Upon leaving Oxford, Wycliffe retired to his living 
at Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, where he remained 
during the rest of his days ; but he was not put to 
silence by anything that had passed. His health, 
indeed, suffered from the trouble into which he had 
been thrown, and a paralytic affection seized him 
some time before his last illness, which was a more 
serious attack of the same disorder. He continued, 
however, to preach, and to labour, both by his writings 
and his instructions, until visited with the seizure 
which proved fatal to his life. He was 
stricken with apoplexy on St. Thomas's 
Day, while preparing to preach in his church: and, 
after lying paralyzed for a week, he expired on the 
last day of the year. 

When we consider the early period at which he 
appeared, and how strong a hold the doctrines which 
he assailed had universally obtained over the minds 
of men, Wycliffe must be ranked among the most 
remarkable of those who are entitled to the highest 
of all fame, that of being greatly in advance of their 
age. The tenets of the Waldenses in the eleventh 
century, and their persecutions in the twelfth, had 
neither shaken the general belief in the errors of Rome, 
nor lessened the homage yielded to the Pope ; and 
indeed those well meaning enthusiasts rather differed 
in their practice than in their opinions from the sur- 
rounding nations. Lolhard some time after had suf- 
fered for heresy in Bohemia, and had many followers 
who dissented from the orthodox faith, making no 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

stand, however, against the abuses of Rome. But 
when Wycliffe began his "spiritual and political war- 
fare, he found the successor of St. Peter universally 
acknowledged as the delegate of Heaven, with abso- 
lute dominion over the opinions and consciences of 
mankind ; endowed by common consent with ample 
prerogatives, even of a secular description; and ex- 
ercising no very limited jurisdiction over the temporal 
princes of the world. The dogmas most cherished by 
the Holy See, those most connected with its political 
usurpation, and those most conducive to the power of 
its priesthood, had never been assailed, or even ques- 
tioned, unless by recluse men of learning, who ventured 
not to communicate their doubts ; or, if one had at- 
tacked the abuses of the mendicant friars, another the 
imposition of indulgences, the stride was prodigious 
from such unconnected inroads to that general in- 
vasion of the whole system, its doctrines and its 
practice, its authority and its hierarchy, the title of 
its chief and the life of its ministers, which has 
made the name of Wycliffe so illustrious among the 
teachers of mankind. 

Even if we compare him with Luther, in one only 
particular can he be said to fall short of that great 
Reformer — his success was more limited. But this 
only renders his merit the more signal ; for he failed, 
because he lived in a comparatively dark age ; while 
Luther, coming later by a century and a half, had 
for his allies the general cultivators of learning, and 
the powerful agency of the press, beside profiting 



THE EEFOEMATION. 25 

by the previous labours of Wycliffe and his followers. 
It is indeed to be borne in mind, that Zuinglius had 
planted the Reformation in Switzerland before Luther 
began his work in Germany ; and had at this early 
period even shaken off many Romish errors, which 
clung by Luther to the end of his life. 

If in other respects we compare Wycliffe with his 
illustrious successor, we shall find in both the same 
fixed determination to suffer no intrusion of any 
human authority between man and his Maker. This 
is the grand principle of the Reformation, the distin- 
guishing mark of dissent from the Romish church ; 
and it at once emancipates from all religious thraldom, 
severs the clerical from the political office, confines 
the priest within the natural limits of his functions, 
and, by introducing Scripture as sole arbiter in reli- 
gious controversy, secures the entire system from 
theological error. But in following this great doc- 
trine into its consequences, the two Reformers so far 
differed, that Luther chiefly attacked the polity of 
Rome and the various devices of her priestcraft; 
while Wycliffe, without neglecting that branch of the 
subject, carried his inquiries more largely into the 
corruptions of the faith. In discharging the duty 
of preaching, and in furthermg the study of the 
Scriptures, both were alike exemplary ; but Wycliffe 
composed more discourses, and he completed himself 
the translation of the Bible, parts only of which 
Luther attempted. 1 In their possession of great 

' Note XIV. 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

learning, in their acquaintance with polemical divinity, 
in their skilful management of all controversial 
weapons, these great men were equally eminent ; but 
it is remarkable, that he who lived in the earlier age, 
and in the ruder state of society, was the less coarse 
and vulgar in the language of his invective, and the 
more guarded and dignified in his demeanour as a 
disputant. 1 He also showed less intolerance of any 
difference in theological opinion. Luther even made 
up his mind to risk the failure of his whole enterprise 
rather than receive into his fellowship Zuinglius, who 
had cast off errors of Romanism, to which himself 
still adhered. 

The courage that inspired both Reformers to break 
loose from the papacy, supported them in sustaining 
long continued conflicts with the secular arm. But 
Wycliffe, though he never made any recantation, yet 
showed a disposition to reconcile his doctrines with 
those of orthodox believers, when he was abandoned 
by his patron, Lancaster ; whereas Luther never be- 
trayed the least desire to soften the shades of his 
dissent : a merit of the highest order, though ren- 
dered somewhat easier by the advantage which he 
enjoyed above his predecessor, of steady support from 
the Elector of Saxony. The temporal lot of the 

1 Bobertson (cli. v. 11) excuses the coarseness of Luther by re- 
ferring to the unpolished age he lived in. But clearly the chivalrous 
spirit, then more powerful and more general than in our day, would 
rather have tended to restrain the licence of abuse in controversy, 
unless we suppose that churchmen were without the pale of those 
rules ; and if so, they were, more than even in later times, within the 
pale of a peaceful and self-denying rule. 



THE REFORMATION. 27 

two men differed accordingly. Luther gave up all 
preferment, and indeed surrendered entirely his sta- 
tion in the church which he opposed. Wycliffe re- 
tained both his parochial and cathedral benefices to 
the end of his life. 

In their private character both were without a 
stain : the sanctity of their lives attested the purity 
of their doctrine. The utmost rancour of controversy 
never gave rise to a charge against Wycliffe's morals ; 
and if Luther's were attacked, the accusation ima- 
gined by bigotry, or fabricated by fraud, passed 
harmless over his head. In this, however, Wycliffe 
was the more happy of the two, that never having 
bound himself by any vows, he could not be taunted 
with moulding his belief so as to escape from their 
obligation ; while Luther, a monk, could with truth 
be alleged to have married a nun in violation of 
that celibacy which both had solemnly, though 
unlawfully sworn to maintain. 1 

The loss of their great leader did not relax the 
efforts of his disciples ; but the jealousy of the 
government had joined itself to that of the clergy, 
and there were so many attempts made to harass the 
sect, that it probably would have been extinguished, 
had not its principles taken too deep root, and spread 
too widely, to render their extirpation possible. The 
name of Lollard was now given to those who em- 
braced the new opinions, either from the word so 
often used by the clergy, indeed, by the Pope, too, 

1 Note XV. 



28 INTRODUCTION. 

and the prelates, in denouncing the heresy — that it 
was tares, lolium, mixed with the wheat ; or from 
the appellation given to a similar sect in Germany, 
headed, early in the same century, by one Lolhard. 1 
We now find Lollards and Lollardy made during 
many years the subject of strong complaints, as well 
by the clergy in their writings and sermons, as by 
their supporters in Parliament. Nevertheless, the 
Lollards persevered with the strenuous zeal which 
marks all new sects, and is proverbially stimulated 
rather than quelled by opposition. The opinions 
which they maintained even assumed a bolder form 
after Wycliffe's decease. They denied that there had 
been any Pope whose title to the office was valid, 
since Sylvester in the fourth century. All indul- 
gences they utterly rejected as corruption ; confession 
and absolution they regarded as sinful, and even 
impious ; pilgrimages, the invocation of saints, the 
keeping of saints' days, the use of images in worship, 
they plainly treated as various forms of idolatry ; all 
church dignities, from that of the Pope down to the 
deanery, they considered unlawful innovations upon 
the primitive simplicity and purity of the Gospel 
dispensation. Oaths of every kind they held to be 
sinful. They denied that the clergy could lawfully 

1 Of Lolhard's opinions little or nothing is known. Some derive the 
name of Lollard from him ; some from Mien, to sing — as these sec- 
taries used to sing in a low tone unlike the priest's chaunt. An order 
in the church, founded by Sixtus VI., in 1370, were called Lollhards, 
or CellitEe, and resembled the Soeurs de la Charite in later times. 
They do not appear to have been accused of heresy. The name, what- 
ever be its origin, had certainly been used before Wycliffe's time. 



THE REFORMATION. 29 

hold any property ; and, what appears to have given 
more offence than all besides, they assumed the right 
of conferring holy orders, their priests, thus made, 
taking upon them every clerical function. 1 Their 
numbers, thickly scattered over the country, in all 
probability prevented the prelates from exerting their 
full authority against them ; but in one diocese they 
appear to have received a check, at least for a time. 
Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, famous for his crusade 
against the partisans of Clement, and for his cruel 
proceedings against the Flemish insurgents, to defeat 
whom he had led on a large force to rout and de- 
struction, gave a public notice that he would punish 
with death any one who should presume to preach 
without regular ordination and licence. 2 

The troubles of Richard's reign, and the sudden 
revolutions of party which took place, with the pro- 
scription of each faction in succession by its victorious 
adversaries, withdrew the attention of the government 
from the proceedings of the sect, and favoured 
its progress ; but after the King had firmly esta- 
blished his authority by the sudden overthrow of his 
uncle Gloucester's influence, he took a decided part, 
when called on by the clergy, to repress the Lollards, 
whose conduct had become liable to the charge of 
violence, and even on one occasion to that of sedition. 
They placarded the churches in London with scurri- 
lous attacks upon the priests, as men of lives the 
most immoral ; they were encouraged in these pro- 

] T. Wals., 372. 2 Wharton's Ang. Sac, ii. 359. Note XVI. 



30 INTRODUCTION. 

ceedings by one Pateshull, a friar, who, having pur- 
chased the appointment of Pope's chaplain, gave up 
his place in the order he had belonged to, and bitterly 
assailed the fraternity ; and, being favoured by some 
of the powerful barons, they presented a petition, 
which their patrons were expected to support, com- 
plaining of clerical abuses in unmeasured terms. The 
King hastened over from Ireland, where he then was ; 
gave a gracious answer to the prelates, who threw 
themselves on his protection against the rude assaults 
of their adversaries ; and his threat of severe punish- 
ment, indeed of instant death, held out to the Lollard 
grandees, proved so effectual, backed as it was by his 
well consolidated authority, that the petition was 
suffered to drop, nor did any partisan of the sect 
ground a proceeding upon it. He also issued two 
proclamations, or mandates, requiring the University 
of Oxford to expel all Lollards and other heretics, 1 to 
seize and send away any persons who resisted, that 
he might deal with them according to law, and to 
examine by a synod of doctors the positions set forth 
in Wycliffe's "Trialogos," reporting their opinion 
upon the same. 

The despotic and wholly illegal conduct which 
Kichard had thus held in ecclesiastical matters he 
soon extended to every part of his administration; 
and the rest of his wicked, weak, and unhappy reign 
presented the usual appearances that mark the ac- 

1 " All persons notoriously suspected of Lollardy and other heresy." 
— Rym., vii. 806. 



THE REFORMATION. 31 

tions of feeble but unprincipled men, in whom vio- 
lence and timidity alternate with each other, when 
they do not, as so often happens, rule together with 
divided sway. It was a succession of acts for some 
years rash and cruel, for some months dastardly and 
mean ; but neither when he was occupied with the 
destruction of his enemies, nor when, by a signal 
retribution, he was compelled to receive the law from 
them, had he any leisure to renew his attempts against 
the Lollards. 

After Henry IV. had dethroned him, it was evi- 
dently a part of his policy to court the clergy by 
siding with them against their opponents, although 
his father, John of Gaunt, had been Wycliffe's 
earliest protector, and he had himself formerly 
inclined to the new doctrines. But now the case 
was altered ; and it is remarkable that even before 
he received the crown, and while the proceedings 
were all carried on in Richard's name, a procla- 
mation, assented to by the House of Lords, was 
issued by Henry, in conjunction with his 21 March, 
partisan, the Primate, directing the seizure 1399 * 
and imprisonment of all who should presume to 
preach against the mendicant friars. 1 Yet the Lol- 
lards, against whose favourite topic of invective this 
ordinance was levelled, appear not to have been 
silenced by it. On the contrary, in the course of the 
next year, we find them launching out into abuse 
more bitter than ever, and propounding doctrines in 

1 Rym. viii., 87. 



32 INTRODUCTION. 

more undisguised opposition to those of the church. 
Reformers addressing the fickle vulgar, ever ena- 
moured of some exciting novelty, and regardless of 
the intrinsic value of any measure or any doctrine, 
are prone to stir up continually the zeal of their fol- 
lowers with fresh stimulants : so the Lol- 
1402. 

lards added to the tenets undeniably sound 
which WyclifFe had preached, others that might 
seem exaggerated, some that were true, and some 
that were manifestly false. They denied the holiness 
of the seven sacraments, which he had always ad- 
mitted ; they deemed them to be mere dead symbols, 
and of no efficacy as used by the church; while, 
contrary to his tenets, they justly rejected alto- 
gether the doctrine of purgatory and of penance, 
confining the efficacy of penitence to sincere repent- 
ance and amendment of life, with faith in the pro- 
mises. They were not satisfied with opposing the 
celibacy of the clergy, but must even require nuns 
and monks to marry, on pain of being damned, though 
they held marriage to be validly contracted by simple 
consent of the parties, without any intervention of 
the priest. They did not scruple to pronounce the 
church itself a synagogue of Satan, and ventured 
even to term the eucharist a watch-tower of Anti- 
christ. Finally, after having, as we before saw, de- 
clared loudly against all saints' days and all holidays 
whatever, save the Lord's Day, they now struck that 
exception out of their creed, holding the Sabbath a 
mere Jewish ordinance, and that Christians are as 



THE REFORMATION, 33 

much at liberty to play or to work on the seventh as 
on any other day of the week. 

The usurpation of Henry of Lancaster had to 
struggle with the hatred which ever attends on the 
most popular rebel after the government he shall have 
subverted has ceased to exist ; and these feelings broke 
out immediately in an attempt to restore the dethroned 
prince. The quelling of this insurrection begun by 
Kent and Mortimer, as well as watching the com- 
mencement of Owen Glendower's rebellion in Wales, 
the cruel act of putting Richard to death in his prison, 
the constant reports of his escape and threatened 
return, with which the new King was harassed ; the 
expedition which he undertook into Scotland, that he 
might occupy men's minds, and divert them from 
dwelling on the infirmity of his title — all afforded 
him so much employment during the first year 
of his reign, that he could give no heed to the 
disputes between the Church and the Reformers. 
But the progress which those sectaries were making, 
and the uncontrolled vehemence of their attacks 
on the clergy, his wish to fortify himself in the 
opinion of that powerful body — possibly, too, the 
circumstance of Salisbury, a leader in Kent's con- 
spiracy, having belonged to the new sect, drew his 
attention to the controversy, as soon as he could 
rest in comparative quiet, after the first troubles of 
his reign. In the speech delivered at the opening of 
parliament, commonly by the chancellor, it was usual 
for the sovereign to make a general promise that he 

D 



34 INTRODUCTION. 

would maintain the church in all its liberties and 
franchises, as they had previously been enjoyed. A 
like promise was given to the other orders of the 
state. But on the assembling of his second 
parliament, Henry added these words, in 
making mention of the church — " as approved by 
the Fathers, the Doctors of the Church, and the 
Scriptures." l The prelates and clergy, perceiving 
that this expression indicated a favourable disposition 
towards them, and a leaning against the Lollards ; 
marking, too, that the Commons had immediately 
thanked the King for his care of the faith — petitioned 
for a law which might effectually prevent the practice 
of preaching without episcopal licence, authorize the 
seizure and detention of persons propagating the new 
doctrines, and require the delivering up of their 
heretical writings. Any further punishment was not 
asked, or indeed referred to by the petitioners ; 
but the King or the temporal Peers immediately 
passed an act in accordance with their prayer, adding 
the penalty of death. Whoever refuses to abjure the 
heresy of which he is either convicted or vehemently 
suspected, or, having abjured, relapses, is to be 
seized ; and the magistrates, says the statute, " shall 
forthwith in some high place, before the people, do 
him to be burnt." The purpose of the savage punish- 
ment is plainly set forth ; it is, " in order to strike 
in fear to tbe minds of others, whereby no such 

1 These words are not in the statute 2 Henry IV., c. 1, but in the 
Rot. Pari., 2 Hen. IV., 1 (vol. iii. 454). 



THE REFORMATION. 35 

wicked doctrines and heretical and erroneous opinions, 
nor their authors and fautors against the Catholic 
faith and detriment of the holy church, which God 
prohibit, be sustained or in any way suffered." l It 
must be observed that no trial in any temporal court 
is required by this statute before the party accused 
shall be burnt. The mere certificate of the bishop, 
or his commissary, is made imperative on the sheriff 
or other executive officer, who may or may not have 
been present at the trial in the spiritual court, accord- 
ing as its judges chose to direct. 

About the same time, certainly during the same 
session, an unfortunate man, named William Sawtre, 
was actually burnt for heresy. He had been a priest, 
and held a living in Norfolk ; but was deprived for 
heretical opinions, and afterwards, on recanting, re- 
admitted into the church. He now petitioned par- 
liament that he might be allowed to dispute before 
them on points of doctrine. The Primate summoned 
him, as suspected of relapse from" the tenor of his 
petition : he proved contumacious when interrogated ; 
sentence was pronounced against him as a relapsed 
heretic ; and he was delivered over to the constable 
and marshal. The King, by the advice of the Lords 
spiritual and temporal, ordered him to be publicly 
burnt, " in abhorrence of his crime, and as an ex- 
ample to all other Christians." 2 It is distinctly 
stated in this writ that the burning of heretics is en- 

1 2 Hen. IV., c. 15. Note XVII. 

2 Rot. Pari., iii. 459. Rym., viii. 178. 

D 2 



36 INTRODUCTION. 

joined by the law of God as well as of man, and by 
the canons. 

It must" be added that during the same session, 
probably before the writ in Sawtre's case was issued, 
the Commons had petitioned that all persons impri- 
soned for Lollardy " should be put to answer forth- 
with, and punished as they deserved, in order to 
deter others of that wicked sect, to prevent such 
wicked preaching, and to maintain the holy religion." l 
There seems, then, independent of the thanks given 
to the King, as we have already seen, no doubt that 
at this period the zeal of the upper classes set in 
strongly against the Reformers. Indeed, we can 
trace the orthodoxy of the Commons in the language 
of their addresses. In one they compare the consti- 
tution to the Trinity, " consisting of three persons 
which ought to act in unison ;" 2 and in their address 
at the close of the Parliament, they compare the ses- 
sion to the mass, showing how the Primate, the King, 
and the two Houses, had performed the several parts 
of that holy office, and couching their thanks to the 
Crown in the words of the Romish Liturgy — " Deo 
Gratias." 3 

It should, indeed, seem, that persons in the upper 
ranks of society had, ever since the tumults early in 
Richard's reign, become alienated from the Re- 
formers. The natural leaning of those classes is 
commonly found to be, for obvious reasons, in favour 

1 Eot. Pari., iii. 474. 2 Ibid., iii. 459. 

3 Ibid., 466. Note XVIII. 



THE REFORMATION. 37 

of the established church : this natural bent of their 
opinions, together with the alarms which the riots 
occasioned, counteracted the accidental inclination of 
many among them to Wycliffe's party; and these 
alarms derived additional force from the sense of the 
insecurity in which the revolutions that vexed and 
finally terminated the reign placed all property and 
all privileges. In such circumstances, it is little to 
be wondered at that Henry should take the side most 
likely to promote his popularity with the more im- 
portant members of the community. The infirm title 
of the Lancastrian princes to the crown, from which 
the commons derived so much advantage in the 
assertion of their civil rights, operated in the contrary 
direction upon their struggle for religious liberty, 
because it was for the most part the middle and lower 
orders that engaged in the conflict with the church, 
and the sovereign had not the same cause to dread 
their opposition, or the same motives to court their 
favour, as he had in his contests with the upper 
orders composing the parliament. 

But though the displeasure of the King, the strongly 
expressed sense of the Parliament, and the rigorous 
law actually passed against them gave serious annoy- 
ance to the Lollards, they were not to be put down. 
They persevered, it should seem, in defiance of the 
enactment made to restrain them ; and it does not 
appear to have been strictly enforced. Gathering 
courage from impunity, they began, after a few years 
had passed away, to preach more openly than they 



38 INTRODUCTION. 

had ventured to do early in the King's reign ; and 
many priests, as well in Oxford as in other 
places, avowed, without disguise, their 
adoption of Wycliffe's opinions, as, indeed, the whole 
body of the University had, some time before, borne 
testimony to the Reformer's life and doctrines. 1 The 
fears of the clergy were not unnaturally renewed ; 
and a sentence was pronounced by the convocation, 
condemning his five principal works of theology and 
his Treatise of Logic as heretical, a judgment which, 
notwithstanding its inconsistency with their former 
testimony, the University of Oxford solemnly adopted, 
adding the prohibition to teach the condemned doc- 
trines, upon pain both of excommunication and loss 
of all degrees. These proceedings, however, clearly 
prove how imperfectly the severe law made against 
Lollardy had been executed. If the Oxford scholars 
could openly preach its doctrines, and the threats of 
the University only extended to spiritual censures 
and deprivations, we may be pretty sure that the 
refractory ran little risk of martyrdom. 

While the learned were thus becoming converts 
to the new system, we may easily suppose that the 
popular preachers of the sect still less kept any terms 
with the abuses and errors of the establishment. 
Their invectives against the clergy they contrived to 
pour out in all parts of the country, braving every 
peril to which such a course might expose them. 
Their familiar topic of attacking the church's right 

J Note II. 



THE REFORMATION. 39 

to possess any property at length drew the attention 
of the Lords, who, feeling that such assaults, if suc- 
cessful in despoiling the clergy, might be ere long 
directed against themselves, prepared a petition against 
the Lollards, to which they asked and obtained the 
consent of the Commons. The petition sets forth 
the dangers to the church, which has as good a right 
to its possessions as any of the temporal lords; it 
states the possible danger to their own property 
from the like attacks being levelled at them ; and 
it prays for an enactment authorizing the seizure 
and imprisonment of all who preach the reformed 
doctrines, or pretend to impeach the church's title, 
to the end that they may be judged by the King and 
the Peers in the next parliament. 1 No entry of the 
royal assent being made on this bill, I have great 
doubts if it ever became a statute ; it was, at any 
rate, only a temporary provision, and never acted 
upon. But the proceeding is important, as showing 
the temper of the parliament, and also as proving 
that the severe act passed seven years before had 
not been found sufficient to silence the Lollards, 
because those who were cited in the spiritual courts 
screened themselves by evasions, and sometimes 
by consenting to abjure, 2 or because the sanguinary 

1 Eot. Paii., iii. 584. The petition adds, as a substantive offence, 
the spreading reports of Richard's being still alive, or of " the fool 
passing under his name in Scotland" being Richard himself. 

2 We find that many did so in the preceding reign, when interro- 
gated and threatened by Courtney, during his visitation of Lincoln 
diocese. — Hoi., ii. 828. 



40 INTRODUCTION. 

nature of the enactment interposed obstacles to its 
execution. 

Towards the latter period of his reign, Henry 
found that considerations of a very different nature 
from any relating to doctrinal points had begun to 
weigh with the Commons. He had some time before 
found the greatest difficulty in obtaining supplies ; 
and one parliament had, in consequence, been kept 
sitting nearly a year, a thing unknown in any times, 
but especially unheard of in those days, when the 
session rarely lasted above six weeks, and the parlia- 
ment generally ended with the session. He now 
bethought him of an expedient to remove these diffi- 
culties : he asked for the grant of a tenth from the 
clergy yearly, and a fifteenth from the laity, to last 
during his life, without any other parliament being 
holden. This was refused, and he was under the 
necessity of continuing the session for five months, 
when he at length obtained the ordinary subsidy, 
for the usual term of a year, but not before the 
Commons had made him a proposal to seize upon 
the temporalities of the dignified clergy, as well as 
the monasteries; and thus, they said, to obtain a 
revenue more than sufficient to maintain 15 counts, 
1500 knights, and above 6000 esquires. This pro- 
position manifestly arose from the prevalence of 
Lollard principles; and the King sharply reproved 
those who brought it forward. They then begged to 
have convicted priests delivered over to the secular 
arm, and not to their bishops. This too was refused. 



THE REFORMATION. 4 1 

Finally, they desired to have the statutes against 
Lollardy mitigated, but were told that, on the con- 
trary, the law would rather be made more stringent 
and rigorous. 1 

A poor man named John Bradbie, a blacksmith, 
or, as some say, a tailor, apparently of the new sect, 
was about this time burnt in Smithfield for main- 
taining WyclihVs doctrines touching the real pre- 
sence. He had persisted in his refusal to recant 
when cited before the bishop's court, and he was 
thereupon delivered over to the secular power. The 
officers brought him to the stake*, and a barrel was 
prepared in which to place him, surrounded with 
combustible materials. But Henry, the young Prince 
of Wales, happening to be present, humanely accosted 
him, and strongly urged a recantation. It was all in 
vain : the wretched man was placed in the barrel ; 
burning fuel was heaped around it. His miserable 
cries again moved the Prince, and, ordering the com- 
bustibles to be withdrawn, he once more besought the 
unhappy victim, now half dead, to retract, promised 
to obtain his pardon, and even held out hopes of a 
pension for his support. But the poor creature 
remained constant to his principles, "instigated, no 
doubt," says the chronicler, " by the evil spirit." 2 
Whereupon Henry, with some anger, peremptorily 

1 Note XIX. 

2 " Non dubium quin maligno spiritu induratus," says the Oxford 
professor and monk of St. Alban's, " neglexit (perditus nebulo) tanti 
principis monita et elegit potius se combnrendum quam sacramento 
vivifico deferre reverentiam." — T. Wals., 421. 



42 INTRODUCTION. 

ordered the execution to proceed, regarding the suf- 
ferer's case as hopeless; and he was burnt to ashes. 1 
And here we cannot easily avoid pausing to con- 
sider the lamentable effects of evil usages and wicked 
laws, more especially when founded on superstitious 
enthusiasm, in hardening the heart, perverting the 
judgment as well as the feelings, and substituting for 
both rational views and natural impressions the most 
absurd notions and the most inhuman sentiments. 
The Prince's conduct at the beginning of the cruel 
scene which we have been contemplating did him 
great credit ; it showed that his feelings were kindly 
and well directed. But the idea never once entered 
his mind that the victim could be saved from a cruel 
death by any act of grace, unless he recanted. A 
pardon was to be asked for him ; but only in case he 
abjured his opinions. Nor did the sagacity of Henry 
help him to perceive that the act of abjuration, far 
from being meritorious, is a mockery and a lie, inas- 
much as, holding any belief and renouncing it or 
altering it, is not and cannot be a voluntary act ; and 
the professing to have changed any opinion having no 
necessary connexion with the fact of a change, never 
can entitle a person to a more favourable considera- 
tion, or justify us in sparing him, provided the penalty 
was rightfully inflicted upon the act of holding that 
opinion. It is further to be observed that all the 
Prince's pity for the sufferer was extinguished when 

1 " Ad fatiillas arsit ardalio miserabiliter mortmis in peccato suo." 
— T. Wals., 421. 



THE REFORMATION. 43 

he persisted in holding by his faith. Anger now 
came in the place of compassion, and the very con- 
stancy which entitled the victim of persecution to the 
sympathy of all good men and the admiration of 
every rational mind, so irritated a young man of 
naturally right feelings and sound judgment, but 
whose sense as well as his sentiments were perverted 
by a wicked system, that he at once joined the per- 
secutors, and impatiently commanded the work of 
blood to be completed. Such spectacles as these 
ought ever to be held up before the eyes of the 
lawgiver, that he may be deterred from cruel enact- 
ments by the sight of the dreadful havoc which they 
make in the human mind, at once laying prostrate 
the understanding and corrupting the heart. 

The execution of Bradbie took place under the 
statute ; but the open breach between the King and 
his parliament was not soon healed, and it effectually 
secured the Reformers against any further persecu- 
tion during the remainder of Henry's reign. 



( 44 ) 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 



The title of Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of Lan- 
caster, to the crown of England was altogether 
imaginary as regards hereditary right ; and he owed 
the possession to force alone. The weakness of his 
kinsman, Eichard the Second, his want of firmness 
and prudence rather than his defective capacity, the 
hatred into which he had fallen from a long course 
of capricious conduct, not without acts of great 
cruelty and oppression, enabled Henry, a favourite 
with the people, to indulge at once his daring ambi- 
tion and his desire of vengeance for the injustice of 
which he had been the victim. Richard had availed 
himself of a quarrel between Henry and the Duke 
of Norfolk, another formidable baron, to send both 
parties into banishment, by a sentence pronounced 
when they were about to end their differences in 
single combat ; and, after securing to the former the 
inheritance of his father, John of Gaunt's, ample pos- 
sessions, he had revoked the grant, and even caused 
the attorney, through whom the patent was solicited, 
to be prosecuted for treason. It was under pretence 
of claiming these estates that Henry, taking advan- 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 45 

tage of the King's absence in Ireland, returned to 
England from France, where he had resided during 
his exile. He was attended by a moderate retinue ; 
not more than sixty barons, knights, and esquires 
accompanied him ; but among them were persons of 
great power, as the Earl of Northumberland, chief 
of the Percy family, and the Archbishop of York, 
who had fled in consequence of ill treatment received 
at Eichard's court. John of Graunt's son had an 
hereditary hold on the affections of the people ; for, 
with the exception of London and places under the 
immediate influence of the Church, that prince was 
generally beloved in the country. But Henry's own 
reputation stood high from his services in a crusade 
undertaken by the Polish princes against the infidels 
of Lithuania ; his superiority to Eichard was marked 
upon all occasions ; the injustice with which he had 
been treated by his cousin greatly increased the im- 
pression in his favour; and he became naturally 
enough the rallying point for all who had either 
grievances to complain of or ambitious wishes to 
gratify. Accordingly, upon his landing on the York- 
shire coast, he was joined by considerable numbers, 
as well of Percy's and the archbishop's retainers as 
others. He solemnly swore that the recovery of his 
estates was the only object of his expedition ; and 
as the precaution had been taken of preparing the 
discontented parts of the country to expect him, a 
general rising in his favour speedily took place. The 
great officers of the crown fled on his approach to 



46 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

London, and even the Duke of York, the King's 
uncle, who had been appointed regent during his 
absence, was so alarmed, that he made his peace by 
a promise of neutrality. The principal ministers 
took refuge in Bristol ; but Henry pursued them 
thither, forced them to surrender, and, after a mock 
trial before the officers of his own household, ap- 
peased the savage fury of the populace by ordering 
them to instant execution. 1 

Richard, who had been detained on his passage 
from Ireland by storms, proceeded, on landing, to 
meet his adversary in North Wales ; but his fol- 
lowers fell off from him. He was deceived by a gross 
fraud of Henry, who sent Northumberland with 
assurance of his allegiance, confirmed by the oath of 
that profligate man taken on the Eucharist ;* and 
thus betrayed, he gave himself up to the invader, 
who carried him immediately to the Tower of London. 
The multitude, dazzled by success, as is their habit, 
forgot their dislike of Henry's father in their hatred 
of the King, whose person was not safe until he was 
lodged in the fortress. From thence he was con- 
veyed, first to Leeds Castle, a strong place upon a 
small lake in Kent ; afterwards to Pontefract Castle ; 
but not before he had been forced to sign a resignation 
of the Crown. In this instrument, that the com- 

1 Statim in crastino ad clamorem communium sunt decapitati. — 
(T. Wals., 397. Otterb., i. 205.) The trial before his constable and 
marshal is mentioned by some, but not by T. Walsingham. (Hoi., 
ii. 854.) 

* Note XX. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 47 

pulsion by which it was extorted might be the more 
conspicuous, he is made to assign his own misconduct 
and his incapacity for the duties of his station as the 
ground of his abdication. 1 

The rebellious chief now summoned a Parliament ; 
but, as if conscious that the resignation obtained from 
an imprisoned sovereign by a subject thus in the act 
of committing treason could not be regarded as valid, 
he brought forward thirty-two articles of charge 
against his royal prisoner, accusing him of various 
perjuries, oppressions, and cruelties. It was affirmed 
that these articles were read over to him by Thyrning, 
the chief justice, but only after they had been adopted 
by parliament ; and certainly he never was heard in 
his defence by those who undertook to judge him, 
nor was ever suffered to appear before them, nor even 
furnished with any information of the charges against 
him previous to his mock trial. In so flagrant a 
manner did Henry find himself enabled to outrage all 
the forms as well as the substance of justice, with the 
force of his arms, supported by the fury of the popu- 
lace, and acting upon a timid or obsequious parlia- 
ment ! No voice was raised against him but the pro- 
test of Merks, the honest Bishop of Carlisle ; sentence 
was at once pronounced, declaring the crown for- 
feited, and absolving his subjects from their allegiance 
to Richard. 

Henry now advanced his extravagant claim to the 
vacant throne. First, he pretended to the inheritance 

1 H. Knighton, 27. Rymer, vii. Eot. Pari., iii. 



48 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

as grandson of Edward III. But his father was only 
third son of that monarch, Richard's father, the Black 
Prince, being the eldest, and Lionel, Duke of Clarence, 
the second. Therefore, if Richard should die, whose 
title had been solemnly recognised in parliament, and 
who had the possession for above twenty years, 
Lionel's daughter, married to the Earl of March, and 
her son, the young earl, also recognised by the parlia- 
ment, became undoubted heirs to their grandfather. 
Next, he set up a yet more preposterous claim, as 
being descended from Henry III. through the former 
Dukes of Lancaster, whom he pretended to represent 
from his mother. But Richard and the Lady March, 
or, after her decease, her son, were all descended 
from Henry III., and all in the male line, unless cre- 
dence were given to a vulgar tradition, which no one 
affected to believe, that Edward of Lancaster was the 
eldest brother of Edward I., and had been set aside 
on account of his personal deformity, a tale the more 
notoriously false that Edward was known, both in 
England and on the Continent, 1 as a man of ordinary 
aspect and form. Thus, nothing could be more fan- 
ciful than the pretensions of Henry, or more gross 
and flimsy than the device by which he sought to 
give his usurpation the colour of hereditary right. 
He was, however, so popular at the moment that the 
country did not nicely examine his title ; and the 
parliament, either partaking of the same feelings, or 

1 He was chosen King of the Komans, and served abroad with 
distinction. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 49 

overawed by his troops, did not hesitate to accept 
him as successor to the vacant throne. 

The audacity of this prince was guided by the 
cunning and sustamed by the firmness which enables 
offenders to perpetrate crimes. His disposition was 
cruel as well as calculating. Beside the murder of 
the ministers at Bristol, he had in Wales put to 
death Sir Piers Legh, one of Richard's servants, 
merely because he remained faithful to his master, 
and had caused his head to be fixed on a turret at 
Chester as a warning to all others against siding 
with the unfortunate King. After he seized upon the 
crown, a conspiracy to restore Richard was disco- 
vered, headed by his uncles. The ringleaders were 
put to death ; and some of them, with all the bar- 
barous torments practised upon persons executed for 
treason — a punishment only of late years abrogated, 
but which in modern times used seldom to be inflicted. 1 
That Richard's partisans might no longer have any 
motive for again moving in his favour, the usurper 
resolved to destroy him in his prison. Traditions 
differ, as did the belief of men at the time, with re- 
spect to the maimer of his destruction ; but the more 
probable account is that which represents him as having 
been starved to death after lingering fifteen days in 
the anguish of hunger, a plentiful repast being placed 
before him, which he was not suffered to touch. 2 
Men persisted, however, in believing that he was still 
alive ; and Henry, after making his obsequious par- 

1 Note XXI. a Note XXII. Hall, 20. Hoi., iii. 23. 

E 



50 HENKY THE FIFTH. 

liament denounce the severest penalties against the 
propagators of such a rumour, caused ten persons to 
be executed for this offence, of whom nine were friars, 
and one a natural son of the Black Prince. 1 

That he displayed as little principle in his religious 
as in his secular conduct, we have already had occasion 
to observe. After showing, while in a private station, 
his opinions to be in favour of the reformed sect, he 
became the warm partisan and patron of their per- 
secutors, and was the first King of England who 
stained his hands with the blood of men dying for 
conscience-sake. 

In weighing the merits of men who lived at a 
period remote from our own age, we are bound to 
regard the opinions and the feelings prevailing in 
their day; because, although the great distinctions 
between right and wrong are eternal, yet the light 
in which actions are viewed varies, as far as the de- 
gree of praise or blame is concerned, in different stages 
of society ; and the historian ill discharges his duty 
who neglects to take such changes into his account. 
The crimes prompted by ambition, and absolutely 
necessary to the compassing of its purposes, have 
been in all ages too easily excused, or palliated ; 
the success so far dazzling the eyes of the world as to 
hide the guilt which gained it. In the feudal times, 
the turbulence of the barons was so ordinary a spec- 
tacle, that the crime of civil war created little abhor- 
rence, and indeed the duty towards a chief made the 

1 Note XXIII. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 51 

vassal blind to that which his country might more 
justly exact from him. Even Henry's bloody exe- 
cutions at Bristol and in Wales were likely to be 
overlooked during his advance upon the crown ; but 
no peculiarity of the time could make men forget, 
and no struggle in which he was engaged could erase 
from his own remembrance for one moment, that 
Richard was his nearest kinsman ; the feelings che- 
rished by all the laws, and usages, and manners of 
the age, made the duty he owed him as the head of 
his house most sacred ; and the same feelings neces- 
sarily presented to his mind any violence committed 
upon the person of his Sovereign as the most heinous 
of human crimes. The vile fraud by which he was 
enabled to seize him ; the casting him into prison ; 
the mockery of making him abdicate, with an extorted 
confession of his offences and incapacity ; the carry- 
ing him about from gaol to gaol ; the making him 
die a lingering death, during the slow progress of 
which, a daily report must have been received of his 
sufferings, and of his progress towards the extinction 
of life ; and then destroying the wretched King's sur- 
viving natural brother, for the offence of declaring his 
fond belief that he yet lived — forms altogether a 
picture of as detestable wickedness as any page of 
human history has enrolled ; and, while none of the 
habits and prejudices of the age in which the scene 
was enacted could shut men's eyes to its atrocity, sen- 
timents of singular force then prevailed to make both 
the great criminal who perpetrated those acts regard 

e 2 



52 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

them with the consciousness of peculiar guilt, and 
strike all who witnessed them with feelings, however 
stifled, of disgust and horror. 

Such was the father of Henry the Fifth ; such the 
steps by which he ascended and kept possession of 
the throne ; such the title by which he made it here- 
ditary. But to that throne the son succeeded with- 
out any opposition, or even a murmur from any 
quarter. He had already become familiarly known 
to the country by his habits of associating with the 
people ; and he had acquired some celebrity by his 
conduct in the war against Owen Glendower, having 
been wounded in the face at the great battle of 
Shrewsbury. It must, however, be added, that the 
usurper had not only fortified his title by the pro- 
ceedings which we have related on the deposition of 
Richard, but had likewise, at a later period of his 
reign, obtained a statute, entailing the crown upon 
his sons by name, and the other heirs of his body. 1 
This, indeed, might not of itself have sufficed to 
make the succession to him peaceable — for he had 
quite outlived his early popularity ; the murder of 
the dethroned prince had transferred to him the pity 
once felt for the fate of Gloucester, and to his suc- 
cessor the odium with which that crime had covered 
himself; and the strong prejudices in favour of here- 
ditary right, only to be conquered by glaring mis- 
conduct on the throne, had been revived after the 
delinquent's death, rendering him who had broken 

1 7 Henry IV., c. ii. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 53 

through the laws of descent exceedingly hateful in all 
men's eyes. For it is the almost invariable habit of 
the people to visit upon those whom they have fol- 
lowed or deceived, the faults themselves have been 
deeply engaged in committmg, and to think they can 
expiate their own offences by a severe retribution 
inflicted upon their accomplices. 

Thus it required all the new Sovereign's personal 
accomplishments to make the succession as easy and 
peaceful as it proved. He had been, while a boy, a 
favourite in Richard's court ; nay, was actually with 
him in Ireland when his father landed ;* and he had 
profited by his courtly training. His maimers were 
easy and engaging ; his person was handsome, as well 
as athletic ; his skill in the exercises most esteemed at 
that period was conspicuous ; and he had the far more 
worthy accomplishment of a better education than was 
usually received by the youth of the age, having, like 
his uncle Cardinal Beaufort, been brought up at 
Queen's College, Oxford, partly endowed by his uncle 
Exeter. His habits, however, had been loose, and his 
life somewhat dissipated. He frequented indifferent 
company, for the ease of which, and for the humours 
also, he had a keen relish ; and occasionally he was 
involved in difficulties, from the riotous conduct of his 
boon companions ; perhaps, too, from his own high 
spirits and want of reflection. Thus one of his com- 
rades, some have it a servant of his own, being charged 

1 T. Elm., 4. Richard at first imprisoned him on the news arriv- 



54 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

with a grave offence before the chief justice, the prince 
attended at the examination, and somewhat peremp- 
torily demanded the prisoner's release. The judge 
mildly besought him to let the law take its course 
uninterrupted, reminding him that he might apply to 
the King for mercy. This only exasperated him ; he 
was minded to rescue the offender; but the chief 
justice sternly commanded him to abstain from so 
unlawful an act *, whereupon he advanced towards the 
bench with a menacing air, and angrily laid his hand 
on his sword as if to draw it. The bystanders were 
amazed, expecting to see some dreadful violence 
committed. The magistrate alone remained un- 
moved, and solemnly rebuked him. "Remember, 
sir," he said, "who you are, and who I am — ap- 
pointed here to keep the place of your sovereign 
and your father, him to whom you owe a twofold 
obedience : Wherefore, in his name, I do charge 
you leave off your wilfulness, and give from hence- 
forward a better example to them that shall one day 
be your subjects : And now, for your contempt, go you 
to the prison of this court, whereto I commit you, 
there to abide, until the pleasure of the King your 
father shall be made known." 1 The prince, overawed 
by the gravity and firmness of this upright magistrate, 
let go his weapon, and, bowing reverently, suffered 
himself to be led away by the officers of the court. 
His retainers, stricken with wonder at his treatment, 
and still more at his dutiful submission, hastened to 
1 Stowe, 342. Hoi., iii. 61. Hall, 64. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 55 

lay the matter before the King, who, according to the 
traditions connected with this passage, blessed God 
that had given him so honest a judge, and so con- 
siderate a son. This, however, is certain, that he 
lost no time in removing him from the privy council, 
in giving the place of its president to his younger son, 
Clarence, and in forbidding the offender his court — 
proceedings which seem to cast much doubt upon the 
received accounts of his satisfaction with his son's 
submission, or at least upon the manner in which he 
is said to have expressed it. 

It must be added to the history of Henry's youth, 
that the stories which have reached our times, of his 
excesses, representing him not only as engaged in the 
riot and debauchery often incident to the early years 
of eminent men, but as guilty of offences against the 
law, inexcusable in any station or at any age, are 
without doubt exaggerated, if they be not wholly 
groundless. The plays of Shakespeare, who has made 
him in part the subject of two comedies, and repre- 
sented him as committing highway robberies with his 
comrades, have tended greatly to keep the tale alive. 
The origin of it may be traced to a frolic in which he 
and his associates disguised themselves, and set upon his 
own receivers, as they were journeying towards him with 
their rents. With some struggle, they took part of the 
money, which he afterwards desired might be deducted 
from the balance of their accounts, when he let them 
know by whom they had been assailed and despoiled. 1 

1 Note XXIV. 



56 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

But whatever may have been the nature cf his 
youthful sallies, it is certain that on ascending the 
throne he put on habits befitting a ruler. He dis- 
missed all the companions of his former debaucheries, 
tempering their disappointment with liberal presents, 
but forbidding them to approach within ten miles of 
the court. He called to his councils the ministers in 
whom his father had trusted, although there was no 
doubt that their advice had contributed to the cold- 
ness, if not harshness, with which he had been treated 
of late years. He received with much grace, and 
even favour, the chief justice by whom he had been 
cast in prison. He paid marked attention to the 
religious duties enjoined by the church. He showed 
a becoming zeal for the inculcation of moral habits 
by the clergy, directing the heads of their order to 
recommend such exhortations by the priests, as might 
dispose the people to shun criminal courses, and such 
examples by themselves as might give their preach- 
ing due weight with their flocks. Finally, he set 
apart a certain time daily for receiving and consider- 
ing the petitions of his subjects ; and he performed the 
far more important duty of removing judges, and other 
functionaries, whose conduct was known to be evil, 
filling their places with men of unblemished reputation. 

But before these great merits could be made 
known, the popularity which he had enjoyed in his 
father's lifetime, contrasted with the dislike which 
had attended the latter towards the close of his 
reign, induced the two houses of parliament to show 



HENKY THE FIFTH. 57 

a mark of favour never before bestowed on any 
prince. Three days after bis accession, and before he 
had been crowned, or had sworn to rule by the laws, 
they tendered him their oath of fealty and allegiance. 
Finding himself thus secure in his place, and aware 
of the young Earl of March's harmless character and 
unambitious nature, which made him, though rightful 
heir of the crown after Richard's decease, a competitor 
the reverse of formidable, he liberated that unfortunate 
prince from the custody to which the late King had con- 
signed him, through jealousy of his hereditary claims 
confirmed by parliament. He ordered the body of 
Richard, from whom he had received great kindness, 
to be removed from Langley Priory, where it had 
been interred with great privacy, and caused a new 
and solemn funeral service to be performed over it 
in Westminster Abbey. The heir of Henry Percy, 
commonly called Hotspur, had, after the defeat of 
his family at Shrewsbury, and their subsequent at- 
tainder, been carried into Scotland by his grand- 
father, Northumberland, and remained there ever 
since. Henry caused the attainder to be reversed, 
restored the young man to the family titles, and ob- 
tained from his brother, Prince John, Duke of Bed- 
ford, who possessed them by grant, a surrender of 
the forfeited estates, in favour of the restored earl. 
In short, all his acts betokened the generosity of his 
disposition towards others, and his confidence in his 
own security. 

That the natural goodness of his disposition, how- 



58 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

ever, only showed itself when, as in these instances, 

his policy made the indulgence of his feelings little 

costly, appears abundantly manifest from his conduct 

towards the captive King of Scots, affording, as it did, 

a contrast to his treatment of young Percy and March. 

James I. had, when a boy, fallen into the late 
■ 1405. . 

King's hands, by the accident of an English 

cruizer capturing the vessel which was conveying 
him to be educated in France. As there was a truce 
then subsisting between the two kingdoms, no pre- 
text could be framed for detaining the young prince ; 
and the captivity to which he was immediately con- 
signed by the cold-blooded, calculating policy of 
Henry, broke the heart of the boy's father, Robert the 
Third. His brother Albany became Regent on his 
decease, and entered into an agreement with the 
English King, that on condition his nephew should 
be detained, the crafty usurper would have nothing 
to fear on the side of Scotland. Accordingly, James 
remained in confinement during the remaining seven 
years of Henry the Fourth's reign. His son, at his 
succession, found the royal captive still in close 
custody ; and though the good treatment which had 
been bestowed on him, and the excellent education 
which he received, mitigated in some sort the evils 
of his confinement, the touching memorials of the 
sorrow which he endured remain in his compositions, 
and attest, if indeed any testimony were wanted, 
the hardship of such an infliction to a feeling and an 
honourable mind. But Henry had succeeded to his 



HENBY THE FIFTH. 59 

father's policy as well as to his crown, and no con- 
sideration could induce him to give up so convenient 
a hostage, or allow the Scottish monarch, thus de- 
tained against all law and all justice, to recover his 
liberty and his throne. James was detained during 
the whole of this reign, and only suffered to depart 
in 1424, after a captivity of almost nineteen years, 
the first twelve of which were passed in close con- 
finement at Nottingham, Windsor, and other places 
of strength. 1 

But, however blameable we may hold Henry for 
persisting in the harsh and unjust policy of his father 
towards the captive prince, he, at least, had the 
excuse that he only followed in the footsteps of his 
predecessor ; and certainly the strong prejudices of 
the nation with regard to Scotland and Scotchmen 
secured him against any censure, if they did not 
even insure him applause, for not extending to James 
the same generosity which he had displayed towards 
others. It thus was his fortune to begin a reign, 
resting on no hereditary right, with such general 
favour towards his personal conduct, as seemed to cast 
into the shade all the defects of his title ; and the just 
claims of his competitor were as entirely forgotten 
as the indiscretions of his own earlier years, both 
being alike lost in admiration of his undoubted ac- 
complishments, and esteem for his supposed virtues. 

The first difficulties which he had to encounter 
arose from the conflict between the church and the 

1 Note XXV. 



60 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

Lollards, followers of the new or reformed doctrines. 
He had already, before his accession, taken part with 
the churchmen ; and had even been persuaded to 
join in the petition of 1407, against the mischievous 
doctrines of which the Lords accused the new sect. l 
The Primate Arundel, who had some years before 
succeeded Courtney, as well in his extraordinary zeal 
against heretics as in the primacy, conceiving that 
he could turn this favourable inclination to benefit 
the cause of intolerance, set his engines to work in 
the first year of Henry's reign. 

Since the death of Wycliffe, though the numbers of 
his followers went on increasing, and the cruel law of 
Henry IV. had not been rigorously executed, yet 
two examples had been made, as we have seen, those 
of Sawtre and Bradbie : there was a growing disposi- 
tion to enforce the statute ; and the Reformers, 
though they retained even with stronger attachment 
than ever their particular tenets, were inclined to shun 
public observation, reading their favourite books at 
home, and hearing their chosen preachers either in 
the privacy of their families, or in places remote from 
the concourse of men. But they had still protectors 
of eminent station, even of considerable influence. 
Among these was a person of extraordinary virtue, 
of high rank, and of such accomplishments also as 
are apt to fix the regards of the vulgar — Sir John 
Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, a knight greatly distin- 
guished in the wars, a gentleman of unsullied reputa- 

1 Sup., p. 37. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 6 1 

tion for honour, the head of an ancient house, and by 
right of marriage a peer of the realm. But these 
qualities, or accidental illustrations, fade away by the 
side of his noble courage and unshaken faithfulness 
to his opinions upon the most momentous of all sub- 
jects ; opinions gravely taken up, conscientiously che- 
rished, maintained to the death. He had in early life 
been, like others of his rank, given to the indulgences 
which fortune placed within his reach ; but, having 
become acquainted with the doctrines of Wycliffe, he 
had ceased to regard anything as important compared 
with the pursuit of religious truth, the cultivation of 
a pure morality, and the helping to free mankind from 
the thraldom of popery, and to cleanse the church of 
Christ from its pollutions. Filled with kindly feel- 
ings, his generous nature could ill bear to see his 
humbler brethren in the true faith suffering under 
oppression, and as if afraid of openly testifying to 
the doctrines which, in common with them, he 
heartily believed. Endued with a dauntless spirit, 
and himself incapable of submission where he felt he 
was in the right, he held forth a helping hand to 
others less capable of resisting miaided the force of 
the ruling powers. 

His mansion of Cowling Castle, in Kent, thus be- 
came the resort of the reformed teachers. Whoever 
dreaded persecution was sure of a shelter under his 
roof; and the books of Wycliffe, the gospel treasures 
unlocked by him to the people, the traditions of his 
wisdom, the commemoration of his virtues, formed 



62 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

the habitual subjects of meditation or converse within 
his hospitable walls. 1 

The steady friendship and the important protection 
which he thus extended to the sect, as well as the 
influence of his example, so useful to the progress of 
the reformed doctrines, not unnaturally excited the 
jealousy of the church party ; and the Primate 
Arundel was among the first disposed to take the 
alarm — if he might hope for success, to take counsel 
also against the formidable adversary. It was re- 
solved to assail him by the new law, to question 
him closely upon his opinions, and to require an ab- 
juration of all Wycliffe's tenets, under the penalty 
now denounced against recusants. The crafty pre- 
late saw that his enemy would thus be delivered into 
his hands ; for a refusal to abjure called down the 
extreme vengeance of the secular arm, while a denial 
or a recantation ensured the triumph of the orthodox in 
the disgrace of the dissenter. The Primate's scheme, 
therefore, seemed skilfully devised ; but there lay 
one serious obstacle in his way. The King, though he 
leaned strongly against the new sect, and, following 
in his father's footsteps, was disposed to court the 
church, had yet so much personal kindness towards 
Cobham, from early intimacy as well as his natural 
relish for a character open and fearless like his own, 
that there seemed no little risk of his support being 
withheld from the meditated proceeding, if it did not 
even give him offence. Arundel, therefore, prudently 

1 Note XXVI. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 63 

delayed to act until he had sounded Henry. In order, 
however, to lend the efforts of his priests a more 
imposing aspect, he repaired to Kensington Palace, 
then the royal residence, attended by many bishops 
and a great part of his clergy; stated the charges 
against Cobham in detail; and received an answer 
little comporting with a monarch's dignity, much less 
worthy of a man whose friend, a prince whose faith- 
ful servant, was assailed behind his back by the 
calumnies of interested enemies. Henry dwelt upon 
the rank of the accused, his peerage, and his knight- 
hood ; besought them to deal favourably with him ; 
desired that they would endeavour to reclaim him, 
" without rigour or extreme handling, if it were pos- 
sible ;" but promised himself to " commune with him, 
should their impatience brook no delay." Such a 
feeble and craven intimation satisfied the Primate's 
party that they were safe in going on to their pur- 
pose. Trusting to the royal promise of intervention, 
they declined taking any further step until that had 
been performed : Cobham was accordingly called be- 
fore the King ; and it became at once apparent what 
must be the issue of the whole affair. 

They who have approached their sovereign's per- 
son, and been graciously, perhaps tenderly, entreated 
by him, can best tell how difficultly the voice accus- 
tomed to command is resisted when it stoops to im- 
plore. Chatham felt refusal all but impossible when 
asked to gratify the King ; Cobham had the far more 
difficult duty of rejecting the royal prayer, kindly 



64 HENEY THE FIFTH. 

preferred, of which his own safety, not his master's 
gratification, was the object. Being summoned into 
the presence, he was addressed with the gentleness 
which in his early years seemed a part of Henry's 
nature, and earnestly conjured to save himself by 
obedient submission and acknowledgement of his faults 
towards his mother, the Holy Church. But he made 
at once this memorable answer — "You, most worthy 
prince, I am ever prompt and willing to obey as the 
Sovereign appointed over me by God, which bear the 
sword to punish evil doers, and protect them that do 
well. Unto you, after him, my whole obeisance is 
due, and ever hereafter as ever heretofore, with my 
fortune and my life will I yield me to all your com- 
mands in the Lord. But for the Pope and his spi- 
ritual power, truly, I owe him nor suit nor service, 
knowing him by the Scriptures to be Antichrist, son 
of perdition, open adversary of God, and the abomi- 
nation in the Holy Place." — The King, unworthy of 
such a servant, and incapable of estimating his worth, 
only felt a regal vexation at finding his well meant 
counsels thrown away, and the request peremptorily 
refused which he deemed it a singular condescension 
to have made. In this temper of mind he suddenly 
broke off the conversation, and dismissed the baron, 
who returned immediately to his castle at Cowling. 1 

The Primate now once more approached the 
Sovereign. He found that his object was accom- 
plished ; and obtained at once full authority to pro- 
1 Hoi., iii. 62. T. Wals., 427. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 65 

ceed against the conscientious noble with all the 
rigour of what were so falsely called the Courts 
Christian. Lord Cobham was cited to appear before 
the Archbishop and his clergy, and answer such 
articles as they should propound ; but the summon- 
ing officer durst not enter the baron's castle without 
his licence, and returned without having served the 
process. The Primate then bethought him of a de- 
vice which might enable him to use the King's name 
without his authority. He prevailed upon an officer 
of the privy chamber to accompany his own ; and the 
man gave Lord Cobham to understand that the sum- 
mons was issued by the King's permission, if not 
command. But he seems to have suspected the 
fraud from the equivocal terms employed by the 
summoner, 1 and made answer that he "would on no 
account be consenting to such devilish practices of 
the priests." The personal service of the writ was 
now considered to be attended with some danger, and 
therefore recourse was had to a peremptory citation 
affixed to the gates of Rochester Cathedral, in the 
neighbourhood of Cowling Castle. The placards were 
more than once put up, being immediately torn down 
and burnt by the people. Cobham was then declared 
in contumacy for not appearing at the day named in 
those placards ; sentence of excommunication passed 
against him ; and he was again summoned to appear, 
on pain of condemnation as a heretic enemy of the 
Catholic church. Before the day came, however, he 

1 Sompner he was termed. 

F 



66 HENEY THE FIFTH. 

drew up a confession of his faith, and humbly pre- 
sented it to the King, who refused to receive it, de- 
sired it might be delivered to his spiritual judges, 
suffered him to be personally cited on the spot, in 
the royal presence, and had him afterwards arrested 
and conveyed a prisoner to the Tower. 1 

On the 23rd of September, he was brought into 
the Primate's Court at St. Paul's in the custody of 
the lieutenant of the Tower. Arundel was assisted 
by Clifford Bishop of London, and Beaufort Bishop 
of Winchester, the King's uncle. And now began 
that proceeding, which a Romish historian has not 
scrupled to describe as exhibiting a contrast of insult 
and arrogance in the prisoner, with mildness and dig- 
nity in the judge. 2 The wonder, however, ceases 
when we find, by referring to his authorities, that he 
takes the Primate's panegyric from his own account 
of his demeanour, embodied in the sentence which he 
ultimately pronounced. We may further observe, 
that the proceeding for heresy was the only one 
believed to be authorized by the prisoner's conduct, 
and that nothing else was laid to his charge ; because, 
although a vague surmise is thrown out in the sen- 
tence of his having used force towards those who 
opposed his doctrines, 3 it is manifest that, had he 

1 Note XXVII. 

2 Ling. Hist., iii. 335. See Eym., ix. 61. Hot. Pari., iv. 109. 
There are not fewer than seven self-eulogistic expressions, as " Nos 
benigno et affdbili modo " — " Nos suaviter " — " Nos suavi et modesto 
modo" — &c. 

3 T. Wals., 427, adopts this charge, evidently by his language, from 
the sentence. See Eym., ix. 61. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 67 

been really liable to any such imputation, the King 
would have proceeded against him by the course of 
the common law. 

The trial opened with an address from the Primate, 
which apprised the prisoner of the charge 
against him, that of denying the authority 
of the Anglican church, and holding opinions different 
from those of the Catholic church, upon the eucharist, 
penance, pilgrimage, image worship, and the power 
of the Pope. But the Primate added, that he was 
ready to grant him absolution, if he would confess 
and recant. Cobham made no answer, but plucked 
from his bosom an indenture of two parts, and gave 
one to the court. The paper contained an exposition 
of his tenets ; and it is impossible to conceive any- 
thing more rational or more fair and full. He meets 
many of the charges in their order, and to each he 
gives a frank and explicit answer, after solemnly in 
the outset calling God to witness that, touching the 
sacraments, he never had refused the assent which he 
had declared to the dogmas of his church. 

The interrogatory process now commenced ; but 
first the Primate, after causing the paper to be read, 
and consulting with his brethren, informed Cobham 
that, though it contained some good and orthodox 
matters, the answers were not sufficiently distinct, 
and that he was required to be more explicit, espe- 
cially upon his belief in the real presence. He said 
that he could only refer to the paper for his answer. 
Being again pressed for further explanation, and re- 

f 2 



68 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

minded that all Catholics were bound to acquiesce in 
the decisions of the Romish church, supported by 
Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and other fathers, he 
professed his willingness to believe as the church had 
determined, and as God had commanded ; but added, 
in plain terms, that he would not admit any authority 
in the Pope, the cardinals, or the prelates, to pro- 
nounce any such decisions. On this the proceeding 
was adjourned, in order that he might be more 
minutely and stringently questioned upon four se- 
veral articles, which were afterwards delivered to 
him, setting forth the Catholic faith, as laid down by 
Rome. 

Upon the reassembling of the court, it was seen to 
consist of many members not before present, as the 
Bishop of Bangor, the Archbishop's lay judge, four 
doctors of law, and several clergymen. The noble 
prisoner was now once more offered absolution from 
the sentence of excommunication under which he lay, 
if he would ask it of the Primate. " Nay," said he, 
" that will I not of you, against whom I never tres- 
passed, but only of God ;" and, kneeling devoutly on 
the pavement, his hands lifted up towards heaven, he 
acknowledged humbly his sins, recounting many of 
them, and praying for mercy. Then, standing up 
again, he turned round towards the people, and, with 
a loud voice, bade them take heed and mark well 
that for all his offences against God's law his judges 
had never yet reproved him, but only for breaking 
their own. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 69 

The inquiry now proceeded ; and first, he was 
pressed to declare his belief touching the eucharist. 
He had in his written statement declared it to be 
under the form of bread — " the very body of Christ, 
which was born of Mary, was crucified, dead, and 
buried, and rose again." He repeated this assertion 
now, referring to the words of Scripture. But the 
Primate would have him say if the substance of bread 
remained after the consecration. Cobham repeated 
his written words, which are in part those of Paschal 
Radbert, who in the ninth century first gave dis- 
tinctly the doctrine of the real presence. This, how- 
ever, would not satisfy the doctors, one of whom said, 
"No bread, but the body only remains after the 
words." Cobham reminded another of them that he 
had himself once disputed at Cowling Castle against 
this actual presence. But many of them cried out 
aloud, "We all say it is God's body," and again 
urged him to declare, " If it contained material bread 
after the consecration." Some further altercation 
ensued with the Primate ; and when once more they 
pressed him to say whether, after the words, the 
bread were not gone and the body alone left, he said, 
" It is both ; it is the very body, the flesh and blood, 
but under the form of bread, and seen only by faith, 
while bread is seen by the eyes." Upon this the 
doctors set up a shout, crying, "It is a foul heresy!" 
They again asked, if it was material bread ; and he, 
referring to the Scriptures, said, it was the very body 
and bread too •, and all the court cried out, "It is a 



70 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

Heresy !" Much more disputation then took place, 
which ended in their referring him to the determina- 
tion of the church and the holy doctors, and his 
referring them to the Scriptures. "I know none 
holier," he said, " than Christ and his apostles ; with 
their determination yours standeth not ; and if it 
really be the church's, she has only held it since 
she received the poison of worldly possessions." 
Whereupon, they demanded sharply whether he 
believed not in the decisions of the Holy Church. 
His answer was little calculated to assuage their 
wrath. He professed an entire belief in the Holy 
Bible, and all that is grounded upon it, as the word 
of God ; but their laws and determinations he de- 
clared to be those of Antichrist, framed for their own 
vainglory and covetousness, and not for the glory of 
Christ. This, they at once exclaimed with great in- 
dignation, was the worst of heresies. 

The examination then went into various matters 
comprehended under the heads of the four articles. 
Much dispute between the prisoner and individual 
members of the court arose ; and the proceeding not 
only became irregular and disorderly, but seemed to 
extend indefinitely in length. Therefore, to bring 
the inquiry within some reasonable compass, Kemp, 
a doctor of laws, took up the articles and interrogated 
him upon each in succession. 

First, he was again asked if he believed not that 
the sacramental elements ceased to exist after the 
consecration; and he answered, as before, that the 



HENKY THE FIFTH. 71 

bread retained its nature. "Sir," said the Primate, 
"you must say otherwise." "Nay," said he, "that 
will I not, if God, as I trust He is, be on my side." 

Secondly, he was anew asked if he believed in the 
necessity of absolution. 1 He admitted the profit of 
comfort from a priest of godly life and sound doc- 
trine ; but affirmed that we ought to fly from all 
such communion with one, though ordained, whose 
understanding was defective, or morals impure. 

Thirdly, he was required to declare his belief 
touching the authority of the Holy See as succeeding 
to St. Peter ; and this led him to discourse of Rome, 
upon which one of the other doctors asked him di- 
rectly, " What did he say of the Pope ?" His answer 
was remarkable, and often cited afterwards. "He 
and ye make up the great Antichrist, of which he is 
the head, you priests and prelates and monks the 
body, and begging friars the tail that covers the filthi- 
ness of both with subtle sophistry." 

Lastly, he was asked if he believed in the virtue of 
pilgrimages and the worship of images and relics ; 
all which he utterly rejected, with many remarks dis- 
paraging the use of them to the profit of the clergy. 

The Primate then once more exhorted him to re- 
tract, and to desist from his offences. He answered 
that he had not offended them, but they him, in thus 
harassing him before the assembled multitude. 
"None otherwise," said he, "will I believe than I 
have told you hereafore. Do with me what you will." 

1 Of being shryven to a priest ordained. 



72 HENKY THE FIFTH. 

Hereupon the Primate stood up, as did all the 
clergy, uncovered, and all the lay people uncovered in 
like manner, while the sentence was pronounced by 
the Primate. He set forth the particulars of the 
examination, and in the name of Christ, and appeal- 
ing to him that the only motive of the judgment was 
his glory, and for preventing the prisoner, already 
bad, from becoming worse and infecting the people, 
condemned him as guilty of detestable heresy, de- 
livering him over to the secular arm. 

If any one should imagine that the repeated at- 
tempts made during this tormenting hiterrogatory to 
draw from the sufferer a denial, or recantation, be- 
tokened the least kindness towards him, it must be 
observed that the object of those efforts was not to 
justify the court in absolving him, but to obtain for 
themselves a triumph over his expected apostacy. 
They well knew, it is true, with whom they had to 
deal, and could have but faint hopes of any such 
result. But then they were at least secure of giving 
their proceeding some colour of reluctance to con- 
demn, if not of compassion towards their victim ; and 
accordingly we find the sentence couched in the lan- 
guage of self-laudation, yet throughout recording 
the attempts made to shake the prisoner's con- 
tumacy, and trepan him into a confession of his 
error. 

The vexation of the proceeding, independent of its 
issue, was most justly complained of by the illus- 
trious accused. For many hours, on two several 



HENEY THE FIFTH. 73 

days, 1 he was kept under the close questioning of 
prelates, priests, doctors, and lawyers — men deeply 
skilled in all the learning and all the subtleties of the 
metaphysical theology. Their interrogations were 
pressed upon him in every form ; the subject of them 
was not any matter of fact, but only his own opinion 
and belief. Upon the answers he might give de- 
pended his fate ; and not only was he compelled thus 
to furnish proof against himself, but the purport of 
his statement was to be judged by the court, and his 
guilt or innocence was to depend upon the opinion 
which they might form of his doctrines. Then the 
judges, or rather inquisitors, who were thus to weigh 
his merits, were so far from being impartial that they 
represented the party against whom he had thought, 
and spoken, and acted — the party who for their own 
interest, the cause of their spiritual order and tem- 
poral emolument, had put him upon his trial. The 
multitude of his adversaries assembled to judge him 
were supported by a surrounding multitude of their 
retainers ; the court-house was filled with clerks, and 
canons, and friars, and parish clerks, bellringers, par- 
doners, in short, all who were sure to feel the most 
violent prejudice against him, who regarded him as 
their implacable and powerful enemy, and, adding 
spiritual to secular bitterness, "derided him," we are 
told, " with innumerable mocks and scorns, reckoning 

1 The day seems to have been far spent on the second examination ; 
for Dr. Kemp speaks of " the day passing away." 



74 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

him to be a horrible heretic, and a man accursed 
before God." 1 

But all this dismayed him not. The sentence itself 
he heard with an equal mind. With a cheerful coun- 
tenance he addressed the court in a few but solemn 
words: "Though ye judge my body," said he, " which 
is but a wretched thing, yet I am sure ye can do no 
harm to my soul. He that created will, of His infinite 
mercy, save it according to His promise, by whose 
eternal grace I will stand to what I have rehearsed, 
even to the very death." Then, turning to the people 
and spreading out his hands, he bade them be well 
aware of these men, who would lead them to their 
perdition, blind leaders of the blind. When he had 
ended, falling on his knees and raising his hands and 
eyes to heaven, he prayed for his persecutors : " Lord 
God eternal ! I beseech Thee, for Thy great mercy's 
sake, to forgive my pursuers, if it be Thy blessed 
will!" 

Surely, whether we regard the greatness of the 
occasion, a strenuous fight with the arms of reason, 
piety, and faith, against the most pernicious error, 
the most enormous abuse — or the condition of the 
party, both in his worldly and his religious capacity — 
or the noble demeanour, the signal ability, the un- 
shaken fortitude displayed by him in the most trying 
circumstances, when exposed to the greatest earthly 
peril without any thing like a crime or even fault laid 

1 Bale, Harl. Mis., ii. 263. 



HENKY THE FIFTH. 75 

to his charge, and cheerfully sustaining himself when 
assailed by the united oppression of unlimited regal 
power and unmeasured popular obloquy — we must 
allow that history presents for our reverent admira- 
tion few passages more striking than this. 

When the sentence was passed, which under the 
statute 1 was one of death, to be inflicted by the 
sheriff, the prisoner was conveyed back to the Tower. 
The Primate still hoped to extort a recantation from 
him by the fear of an impending punishment; and 
willing, at the same time, as he had been throughout 
the trial, to make a false show of compassion for his 
victim, when he delivered his certificate for the exe- 
cution, he desired the King to postpone it for a short 
period. A respite for six weeks was accordingly 
granted. This interval the priests employed in cir- 
culating a fabricated confession and retractation pre- 
tended to come from Cobham, but drawn up by them 
for the purpose of disheartening his followers and 
imposing upon the rest of the people. It does not 
appear that this weak invention of his persecutors 
ever came to his knowledge ; but be found means to 
escape from his confinement, and appears to have 
forthwith fled towards Wales, where he had partisans, 
and might hope, from the difficulty of the country, to 
maintain himself in safety. 

Soon after his flight, a concourse of people, said to 

1 De Heretico comburendo, 2 Henry IV. c. 15. Unless the sheriffs 
had been summoned to attend the trial, which it was optional in the 
court to do or not, a writ of execution was issued from the crown upon 
the bishop's certificate simply. 



76 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

be principally Lollards, took place in the fields near 
St. Giles's, close to the city of London, on 
the Sunday evening following Epiphany. 
The King was then keeping the festival of Christmas 
at the residence of Eltham, in Kent, and he is sup- 
posed to have beforehand received secret information 
of the intended assemblage, with an account, probably 
exaggerated if not false, of its purpose ; for he sud- 
denly removed without an escort to his palace at West- 
minster. The mob collected in the night ; whether to 
hear one Beverley, a favourite preacher, or with riot- 
ous intentions, still seems doubtful. The King was 
strongly advised not to act against them until daylight 
should enable him to distinguish friends from foes. 
This suggestion, however, he disregarded, being ap- 
prehensive, from the statements made to him, that the 
people, if not immediately opposed, might destroy 
the monasteries in the capital and its neighbourhood. 
With such force as he could collect, therefore, he re- 
paired soon after midnight to the ground, and there 
took post to await the daybreak. He adopted the 
further precaution of ordering the gates of the city to 
be shut, as he had been told of an apprehension 
entertained that there might be a rising of the serv- 
ing-men and apprentices. Thus none were allowed 
to leave the walls but such as went to join him. But 
it happened that some persons from the country, who 
were supposed to intend joining the mob, mistook 
their way, and coming to the King's quarters were 
taken and sent to prison. This spread a panic amongst 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 77 

the rest ; for it was rumoured, say the accounts, that the 
soldiers were in great force ; and the multitude are 
represented to have been further discouraged at find- 
ing that they were not joined by the citizens, as they 
had expected. There was in consequence a general 
dispersion in all directions ; some were taken, some 
slain, and the riot, if any there had been, was effec- 
tually quelled. On being asked whom they intended 
to join, the prisoners said, Lord Cobham. This gave 
rise to a belief that he was their leader, and that he 
had escaped ; but no tradition represents him as ever 
having been present. A reward, amounting to nearly 
8000/., was offered by royal proclamation for his 
apprehension; and the promise even went to the 
unheard-of length of perpetual exemption from tallage 
and all other imposts to any town in which he might 
have taken refuge and which should deliver him up. 1 
It is hardly necessary to add, that none ever claimed 
these rewards ; probably no expectation of such a 
claim was entertained. There can be no doubt 
whatever that Cobham was still in Wales. No one 
has ever pretended that any act of riot or any dis- 
turbance of the peace took place, or that any noise or 
even outcry was made, or in short, that the people 
assembled ever did or said any thing whatever. It 
is confessed that the soldiers were made to act 

1 Eym., ix. 90. The sum offered was 1500 merks, equal to 8000?. 
of this day. The answer to the question whom they meant to join, 
proves nothing unless we knew the very terms of the question. Sup- 
pose, as is very likely, it was, " Who is your leader ?" and that they only 
came to hear Beverley preach, they would say, " Lord Cobham." 



78 HENEY THE FIFTH. 

against thera in the dark, and it has never been 
asserted by any one that those troops met with the 
least resistance. 

No time was lost in bringing the prisoners to trial. 
A special commission was issued for that purpose, di- 
rected to judges, the lord mayor, and others ; it bears 
date the very day laid in the indictment as that on 
which the alleged riot took place, namely, the 10th 
of January; and on the 11th, as we learn from the 
royal proclamation against Cobham, the convictions 
had taken place. The only persons whose names 
have reached us are Sir Roger Acton, a man of parts 
and fortune ; Mr. Browne, a gentleman of family ; 
and Beverley, the preacher. All were sentenced for 
both treason and heresy. In what way they were 
tried for the latter no where appears, nor have we 
any account of the trial under the commission ; but 
on all was inflicted capital punishment, and some 
were burnt as well as hanged. The numbers who 
suffered are stated with some variation by different 
writers, but no one makes them amount to more than 
thirty-nine, or less than twenty- seven. The 24th oi 
January was the day on which this sanguinary execu- 
tion in these very suspicious circumstances took 
place. The pretence set up in the indictment of 
twenty thousand men being assembled is plainly a 
fiction; not above seventy were taken, though no re- 
sistance was offered ; and such a large body would 
not have taken flight merely because their expected 
succours from the city never arrived ; nor would 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 79 

there have been the entire want of proof against the 
people under which the whole case so signally 
labours. 

The obscurity which hangs over all the circum- 
stances of this popular movement extends not more 
to its suppression and its consequences, than to its 
object and design. The only contemporary author 
who touches with any particularity upon the subject, 
states little or nothing with certainty; and even 
though strongly disposed to take part against the 
Lollards, he only gives the matters which he relates 
as current rumours. A plot deeply laid to kill the 
King and all his brothers, the great lords, prelates, 
and abbots, is the grave offence of which he says they 
were accused. 1 Later writers have asserted that the 
offence of Sir R. Acton and Browne was the having 
aided Cobham 2 in making his escape from the 
Tower; while the concourse in St. Giles's Fields 
was only to hear Beverley, the open resort to a con- 
venticle being at that time prevented by the active 
measures of the Primate. But whether there was 
any riotous meeting or not, it seems to result fairly 
from an attentive examination of whatever has reached 
us upon the subject, and especially of the proceed- 
ings connected with it, as they appear on record, that 
few questions of historical controversy are more free 
from reasonable doubt than this, and that every view 
leads to the disbelief of any treasonable conspiracy 

T. Wals., 431. T. Liv., 7. T. Elm., 31. 
2 Hall, 49. Hoi., iii. 63. 



80 HENKY THE FIFTH. 

and any rebellious assemblage ; while the bitter 
hatred of the ecclesiastics towards the new sect 
eagerly caught at any semblance of a turbulent 
movement for inducing the court to make common 
cause with themselves against the Reformers, and 
treat heretics as rebels. 1 

Although it will be anticipating events which hap- 
pened somewhat later, there is a manifest convenience 
in here bringing Lord Cobham's story to a close. He 
appears to have thrown out some threats against 
Lord Abergavenny, who had been engaged in perse- 
cuting the Lollards ; but he, having intimation of 
their intention to molest him, collected a considerable 
force near Tewkesbury, and secured some of them. 
These he put to the torture, in order to discover the 
place in which their leader was supposed to have a 
collection of arms and money ; and, by means of 
their cruel sufferings, extorted from them the con- 
fession that in the walls of a certain house there was 
a place of concealment. It is not stated distinctly 
that any money or arms were found, but only that 
there was discovered a banner with a cross and the 
sacramental elements painted upon it. No trace was 
found of Cobham. 

The persecutions of the sect continued under Chi- 
chele, who succeeded Arundel in the primacy; and 
one William Clayden, for giving holy orders to his 
own son, and making him celebrate mass on his wife's 
recovery from childbed, was cited, interrogated, and 
1 NoteXXVIII. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 81 

publicly burnt in London as a heretic. Indeed, the 
unsparing exercise of persecution, in its most cruel 
shape, forms the melancholy and disgraceful charac- 
teristic of Henry's reign. During the first four 
years the severities thus witnessed only led to the 
Reformers worshipping in secret, and their vexation 
when detected. But, as tyranny is ever suspicious, 
especially when it assumes the habit, so natural to it, 
of cruelty and injustice, these objects of oppression 
were objects of suspicion also, and it was easily 
believed that men would exact vengeance if they 
could, who had so good ground of resentment. 
Hence it was usual to impute whatever discontent 
broke out in any quarter, especially if followed by 
a disturbance of the peace, to the Lollards and their 
chief. Thus the Scots attacked Roxburgh, and were 
instantly repelled ; but it was immediately said that 
Cobham had made them undertake this inroad during 
Henry's absence in France, bringing with them the 
person who was supposed to be Richard living in 
Scotland, and that Cobham had held a conference 
on the subject with William Douglas, at Pontefract. 
This story rests upon a most improbable rumour 
current at the time ; for nothing can be less likely 
than his exposing himself to the risk of capture by 
coming across the island, and to one of the most 
important strong places of the crown. At the same 
time he was reported to be concealed in a peasant's 
house near St. Albans. The abbot had it searched, 
but Cobham was not found. The rumour adds, that 

G 



82 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

some of his followers, acquainted with his schemes, 
were secured, and that he was sorely grieved, lament- 
ing the discovery and defeat of his great project: 
a story manifestly impossible to be true, as he had 
escaped, if he ever was there. Besides, no proceed- 
ings were ever taken against his supposed followers ; 
nor were they, like the Welchmen, compelled by 
torture to confess. The foundation, however, of the 
whole fable is plain enough. The abbot found in the 
poor Lollard's house some missals, or mass books, with 
the images defaced, and the Virgin's name erased. 
These he sent to the King, who handed them over to 
the Primate, in order that he might influence the 
minds of the people against the Reformers, by exhibit- 
ing in his sermons such proofs of their hostility, not 
merely to the images, but even to the names of saints. 1 
A real event, however, and one that led to dis- 
astrous consequences, was approaching. Early in the 
winter of 1417, the Lord Powis, getting scent of 
Cobham's retreat, set upon him with some men, and 
they succeeded in taking him, after a resistance in 
which he was wounded somewhat severely. The 
parliament was then sitting, and desired not to be 
dissolved until he should be brought before them. 
This was done ; and the wounded man, being con- 
veyed to London in a litter, along with his chaplain, 
was placed at the bar by Powis. The record of his 
outlawry for the St. Giles's affair, and the sentence 
for heresy in the spiritual court, were then read, 
1 Note XXIX.— Hoi., iii, 92. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 83 

and he was asked if he had anything to say why 
execution should not pass upon him. He appears to 
have disdained making any reply, though the Chro- 
nicles mention his having entered upon his favourite 
topics of doctrine, recommending his judges to imi- 
tate the divine attribute of mercy ; and add, that 
he was somewhat rudely interrupted by the chief 
justice, as wasting the time of the Lords, and giving 
them trouble. The sentence was then passed, in the 
form of a bill from the Commons, assented to by the 
two other estates, ordering him to be forthwith 
hanged, and to be burnt before the executioner had 
deprived him of life. The story added, of his having 
declared that they should not judge him as long as 
his lawful sovereign, Eichard, now in Scotland, was 
alive, is destitute of all probability ; but indeed the 
bill making no mention of it, though it recites the pro- 
ceedings against him, is decisive that the whole was 
a fiction. 1 The outlawry, such as we have already 
described it, was recited in the act as well as the 
ecclesiastical sentence. But the punishment was 
plainly awarded on the latter ; for the act expressly 
says, he was "adjudged to die, as a traitor to God 
and a heretic, condemned by sentence of the Spiritual 
Court ;" and only adds, " and as a traitor to the king 
and kingdom," without referring to any judgment, or 
even to the outlawry which had been before recited. 2 

1 Note XXX. 

2 T. Wals., 447.— Eot. Pari., 5 Hen. V. 11 (iv. 107).— Julian's 
" Chronicle of England" says, " he was hangyde and brent, and alle 
for his leuednesse and fals opinyones." — P. cxvii. 

G 2 



84 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

That outlawry, beside the circumstance of the 
dates already mentioned, laboured under this great 
defect, that Cobham, having fled, could have no notice 
before the day of the trial, because this was hurried 
on immediately on the special commission being 
issued; and as the alleged riot was on the night of 
the 7th of January, at the earliest, and the con- 
viction was over on or before the 11th, and as no 
bill could have been found before the 9th, the default 
could only have been by not appearing on the 10th, to 
answer a bill found the day before ; and, therefore, he 
had but one day to receive notice of the indictment, 
and reach London to meet the charge. But indeed 
nothing can labour mider greater suspicion than the 
whole affair, and historians have not scrupled to 
deny that there ever was either an actual trial or a 
genuine record made up at the time. l 

On the morning of Christmas, the day appointed 
for his execution, Cobham was led forth 

Dec. 1417. . 

from the Tower, with his hands tied behind 
his back ; he was placed upon a hurdle and drawn to 
the gallows erected in St. Giles's Fields. There, 
being taken out, he fell down on his knees devoutly, 
and begged the divine forgiveness for his enemies. 
Then standing up, as he beheld the multitude, among 

1 The learned editor of the State Trials, Mr. Howell, regards the 
whole as a forgery ; and he appears to think it of less ancient date 
than the times in question. But the record, if fabricated, plainly 
existed in 1417, for it is recited in Eot. Pari., iv. 107, which Mr. H. 
had not seen. There is much probability in the supposition that it 
was forged for the purpose of Cobham's sentence. 



HENEY THE FIFTH. 85 

whom there were many persons of distinction, he ad- 
dressed to them a few words, earnestly exhorting 
them to follow the law of God contained in the Scrip- 
tures, eschewing the evil ways and evil counsels of 
teachers unchristian in their lives. Being offered the 
assistance of a priest to confess, he scornfully refused 
it ; adding, that were the apostles themselves standing 
there, even to them would he not confess : " For 
God," said he, " is here present — to Him alone will 
I acknowledge my sins — from Him alone ask or 
expect pardon." The annoyance given by his per- 
secutors moved him little, the preparations for his 
torture not at all. The barbarous sentence was then 
executed, but not with humane despatch. He was 
hanged up by the middle in an iron chain, and burnt 
alive while thus suspended ; his body was consumed 
to ashes. His last words were heard to praise God 
with pious fervour, into whose hands he resigned his 
soul with his latest breath. The surrounding mul- 
titude showed the greatest affection towards the 
illustrious sufferer, loudly bewailing his fate, and 
putting up prayers for him ; which the priests vainly 
sought to check or to stifle, by telling them that he 
had departed this life under the curses of the church, 
and in resistance to its head. Nor ceased they to 
slander his memory. They invented a story of his 
having told the Lord Erpingham that he should rise 
from the dead in three days ; a folly which, had he 
committed it, would only have proved that his reason 
had been subdued by his sufferings ; but nothing can 



86 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

be more improbable, and nothing more inconsistent 
both with the whole tenor of his rational, manly 
life, and with the calm fortitude which he displayed 
at its closing scene. 1 

The fate of this great man certainly stamps an 
indelible disgrace, both upon the age adorned by his 
virtues, and upon the prince under whose reign and 
with whose entire assent he was made the object of 
such unrelenting persecution for conscience-sake. 
Had he been guilty of the acts imputed to him, and 
resisted a government which so cruelly treated both 
himself and his numerous brethren, solely because of 
their honest difference in opinion with the clergy, all 
reasonable men would have acquitted him of blame, 
and there would only have been wanting the accident 
of success, to the enrolling his name, through all 
ages, among the most illustrious deliverers of man- 
kind. But there exists no evidence whatever that 
he had infringed any one temporal law, or committed 
any offence inconsistent with the peaceful principles 
which he professed of obedience to lawful civil 
authority ; and it is a part of the flagrant injustice 
which the priests dealt out to him with the concur- 
rence of Henry, that, not content with condemning 
him as an enemy to the Pope, they also held him up 
as a traitor to the King. They thus hoped to gain 
two ends ; both to divide the Reformers, many of 
whom might approve of his doctrines without joining 

1 T. Wals. only says, " prout dicebatur." Hist. Aug., 448. Ypod. 
Neust., 198. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 87 

in his resistance, and to secure the support of the 
crown in destroying any obnoxious Reformer as a 
common enemy. 

We may now resume the earlier part of Henry's 
history, and follow him in those exploits which have 
been the theme of unbounded praise from historians, 
ever prone to corrupt the rulers of the world with 
unreflecting and even unprincipled panegyric. 

His father had closed a life stained with great 
crimes, yet remarkable for the display of uncommon 
sagacity, by an act well suited to the rest of his 
career, and betraying a disposition at once crafty and 
unscrupulous. He left an earnest request to his son, 
that he should not suffer his dominions to remain in 
peace, but keep his turbulent subjects, especially the 
barons, their chiefs, always employed in foreign war. 
This counsel fell upon a congenial soil, and the new 
king did not allow many months to pass before he 
showed that the usurper's dying words had not been 
spoken in vain. The state of France at this time 
was such as might well excite compassion in any one 
of ordinary humanity, and prescribe forbearance even 
to an enemy. Torn by factions, exhausted with civil 
war, presenting the sad spectacle of an imbecile sove- 
reign generally deprived of his reason, whose nearest 
relatives were bent upon exterminating one another, 
to seize the sceptre though they ruined the country ; 
finally, as if all the bonds of society were loosened, 
given over a prey to the savage domination of mer- 
cenary ruffians banded together for the work of pillage 



88 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

and blood — surely so lamentable a condition, if it 
failed to excite pity, could only allure the most hard- 
hearted and the most sordid of assailants. 

Henry, on his accession to the throne of him whose 
parting advice we have been recording, saw the scene 
with other eyes than those of compassion 5 and, in 
less than half a year, he had preferred a claim to the 
French rulers which only their unexampled embarrass- 
ments could induce any one of sound mind to urge 
forward, and which even those embarrassments could 
not prevent from appearing ridiculous in all men's 
eyes. He demanded the entire and absolute cession 
of the kingdom of France, with all the rights apper- 
taining to its sovereignty; or, if that were denied, 
then, protesting that he in no wise relinquished his 
claim of right by consenting to take anything less, he 
required, under threat of hostile operations, the 
immediate possession of nearly one third of the 
country, the hand of the King's daughter, and a 
portion with her amounting in value to above two 
millions sterling of our present money. This pre- 
posterous announcement, instead of being treated 
with disdain, as it must have been at any other time, 
now only produced an offer from the French court, 
too sadly showing the deplorable extremity to which 
their country was reduced — an offer of less, indeed, 
than had been required, but still of valuable and 
extensive provinces, of the princess's hand, and of 
a larger dower than had ever before been given, ex- 
ceeding three quarters of a million of money at the 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 89 

present day. A negotiation then took place, pro- 
tracted by Henry, with repeated promises of keeping 
himself single from month to month, in order to give 
the French a hope of accommodation, and gam time 
for preparing his means of attack. It seemed, indeed, 
at one moment, as if the plan of proceeding to violent 
extremities had been abandoned ; for, after nine 
months had been spent in embassies and discussions, 
the parliament, which met at Leicester A ril 30 
towards the end of the following spring, was 1414 - 
not even asked for the usual subsidy, a tenth and a 
fifteenth. Bishop Beaufort, the King's uncle and 
chancellor, only addressed to it a speech upon the 
dangers that threatened the church from the Ke- 
fbrmers, against whom he required new laws to be 
passed. 1 

But at this critical juncture it happened that a 
measure hostile to the clergy, which had been pro- 
posed and rejected at the end of the last reign, was 
again brought forward by the friends of the new 
sect. The seizure of the lands and the tithes belong- 
ing to the prelates, as well as those of the monaste- 
ries, was either pressed in a petition of the Commons, 
or broached in their house with good prospect of suc- 
cess. The clergy took the alarm, and, conceiving that 
nothing could better turn aside the storm they were 
threatened with than engaging the King and his 
nobles in the French war, towards which he had 
already betrayed so strong an inclination, and which 

1 Rot. Pari., 2 Hen. Y. 1. (iv. 15). 



90 HEjSTEY the fifth. 

they at any time were sure to relish, no pains were 
spared to encourage these propensities, and give the 
most nattering support to the extravagant claim 
which had been advanced. The old writers are very 
prolix in their accounts of the long harangues made 
by the Primate Chichele (whether in the Lords' 
House, or at a council, is somewhat doubtful), de- 
fending the King's title to the French crown, exhort- 
ing hi in by all means to assert it with force of arms, 
promising him assured victory, and offering an ample 
contribution from the clergy towards performing this 
Christian work. Lord Westmoreland, warden of 
the Scottish marches, admitting the prelate's argu- 
ment on the point of law to be irrefragable, rather 
counselled an invasion of Scotland as the proper pre- 
liminary to the conquest of France. But he was 
answered by Exeter, the King's uncle, who regarded 
the French invasion as involving in its expected suc- 
cess the fall of Scotland also. It is plain that this 
was the King's own opinion ; he had probably never 
laid aside his project, though its execution was de- 
ferred ; and the reasonable presumption is rather that 
the result of the discussion confirmed him in designs 
already formed, and hastened his contemplated pro- 
ceedings, than that it set him upon a scheme which 
would not otherwise have been entertained. 1 

It must be remarked that there never was any 
argument more inconclusive, more absurd, nor ever a 

1 Hall, 49. — Hoi., iii. 65. — Fabyan, 578. — Polych., cccxxix. — 
Goodwin, 42. — Duck's Life of Chichele. — Note XXXI. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 91 

position more entirely untenable, than that which the 
Primate maintained, and which indeed formed the 
whole ground of Henry's pretensions. The Salic law, 
it was said, perhaps truly said, has not excluded 
women from the French throne ; for its only text bear- 
ing on this point is the provision against a woman 
inheriting Salic land, and that is no description of 
France, 1 but of a Germanic territory. But besides 
that the general adoption of the principle in practice 
for ages supersedes all argument upon the letter of 
the written law, especially in a great question of 
constitutional right, if women were admitted to be 
entitled, there were at least four families whose claims 
must needs come before those of Henry. He deduced 
his title from Isabella, mother of Edward III., his 
great-grandfather ; but her younger brothers, Charles 
the Fair and Philip the Long, both left daughters, 
and those daughters had sons ; and her eldest brother, 
Louis X. (Hutin), left a daughter, Joan, who actually 
succeeded to the crown of Navarre, because from 
that succession females are not excluded. Thus far 
his title had all the incurable infirmities of his great- 
grandfather's. But it had another, if possible, more 
fatal still, and which wholly displaced him, even if 
Edward III. were admitted to have been the rightful 
heir after Charles IV. (the Fair), and the branch of 
Yalois were shut cut. Edward's undoubted heir was 
Richard II. ; and he had never been deposed in 
France. But even if he had abdicated the French 

1 Brougham's Pol. Phil., part i. oh. xi. (vol. i. p. 366). 



92 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

throne as well as the English, the Earl of March was 
the next in succession, not Henry, and there existed 
not the shadow of a pretext for holding him to be set 
aside. This pretension of Henry, therefore, may 
safely be said to stand, if not at the very head, yet 
high among the number of the most untenable claims 
to sovereignty that have ever been fashioned by 
ambitious and unprincipled men, who oftentimes pay 
homage to public opinion so far as to cover over their 
acts of mere violence with some delusive semblance 
of right. 

The alarm which led the clergy into these reason- 
ings, and inspired their exhortations, proved groundless. 
The parliament held at Leicester took no measures 
against church property, such as were apprehended ; 
for the only aid given to the King at their expense 
was the forfeiture of priories held by aliens, an abuse 
which the English priests had no mind to defend. 
But it appears 1 that they failed in an attempt to pro- 
scribe the Wycliffe doctrines and prevent the circula- 
tion of the Scriptures by enactments of extreme rigour ; 
for the only statute on religion made in this session 
was one forfeiting to the crown the estates of all 
persons convicted of heresy, whether they suffered or 
escaped the sentence of the law, and directing that 
all judges and other magistrates should take an oath 
to aid the prelates in extirpating heresy. 2 But about 
this time Henry made a conspicuous display of his 
zeal for the church by founding three monasteries 

1 Eot. Pari., iv. 22. Note XXXII. 2 2 Hen. V. } c. 7. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 93 

near his residence at Sheen ; and two of them were 
for Augustines and Carthusians, orders whose rules 
are peculiarly severe. 1 In these foundations he was 
both influenced by his desire to please the clergy, and 
guided by the manifest policy of discouraging the 
prevalent disposition to attack the friars, especially 
the Mendicant orders. Hence the preference given 
by him to the stricter classes, and hence his endow- 
ments, which were liberal, and fully sufficient to pre- 
clude all dependence upon the bounty of the faithful. 
Although the favour of the church encouraged and 
assisted his ambitious views, he had before taken, and 
he continued to take, such part in the troubles of 
France as seemed most conducive to the success of 
his schemes. Pursuing his father's policy of allying 
himself with the weaker faction, in order to prevent 
the formation of a strong government which might re- 
store tranquillity, he commenced a deep intrigue with 
the Duke of Burgundy, Jean Sans Peur, leader of 
the party most formidable to the peace and the 
prosperity of that unhappy country, though excluded 
generally from a share in its government. This 
prince, whose crimes have rendered him, in the de- 
testation of all mankind, almost a match for our third 
Richard, was covered with infamy of every descrip- 
tion. He had first influenced the fury of the mob at 
Paris against the measures of his consin, the Regent 
Orleans, brother of Charles VI., and charged with the 
government during his insanity. He had then for a 

1 Otterb., i. 275. 



94 HENEY THE FIFTH. 

length of time maintained in the country a civil war, 
attended with even more than the usual horrors of 
that grievous calamity. An accommodation, how- 
ever, with Orleans, he was compelled to make ; and 
nothing could exceed the outward appearance of cor- 
diality which his whole demeanour towards his kins- 
man displayed, except the deep hatred which rankled 
in his heart towards that rival for supreme power. 
In the midst of the most familiar and daily inter- 
course, he treacherously set on assassins, who mur- 
dered Orleans in the streets of Paris, with circum- 
stances of aggravated cruelty. Forming one in the 
funeral procession, he bore the pall, and endeavoured, 
by his ostentatious display of grief, to turn men's 
minds aside from the suspicions which naturally 
filled them. A strict examination, however, of his 
palace, as well as those of the other princes, was 
ordered by the government, whereupon he anticipated 
the discovery of his guilt by openly avowing that the 
murder was his work ; and he shocked all the feel- 
ings of mankind by the unheard-of audacity with 
which he pretended to justify this execrable crime, 
setting up an infamous doctor of the civil law to 
accuse Orleans of various offences, and to maintain 
that it was lawful for any one to destroy him. The 
name of this venal wretch has been justly preserved, 
for the hatred of all ages, — Maitre Jean Petit. After- 
wards, by the aid of the populace, and of judges act- 
ing under the influence of mob intimidation, he put 
to death the chief minister of the crown and other 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 95 

persons of the Armagnac party. 1 But while the three 
sons of Orleans lived he felt himself insecure, and he 
plotted their assassination when they should appear 
at a meeting which they were expected to attend. 
They escaped by the timely warning which his fa- 
vourite counsellor Des Essarts, shocked at the project, 
conveyed to them ; but that individual, for his hu- 
manity, soon fell a sacrifice himself to the duke's 
vengeance ; and in one of the sudden changes which 
more than once placed this idol of the mob at the 
head of affairs, he by their help alternately filled the 
prisons with his victims of all ranks, and emptied 
them by his massacres, now on shore, now on the 
river, with an unsparing use of torture when the un- 
happy captives were dispatched in his dungeons. 2 

With this bloodthirsty wretch, whose courage and 
capacity, however, no one ever denied, Henry the 
Fourth had declined to form an alliance ; not, we may 
be well assured, from any particular abhorrence of his 
crimes, but because he appeared to be by much the 
most powerful of the French chiefs, whose profligate 
ambition was thus tearing their country to pieces ; 
and the sagacious usurper deemed it his best policy 
to avoid increasing the strength of any party with 
whom he might one day have to cope. His son, 
now that the Burgundian had become less formi- 

1 The Orleanists were so called from their captain, D' Armagnac ; the 
Duke of Burgundy's (John's) were called, from him, the Bourguignons, 
or Burgundians. 

2 Monstrel., ch. xxxvi.— Note XXXIII.— Mer., i. 1001.— P. Dan., 
vi. 469. 



96 HENKY THE FIFTH. 

dable, hoped to point what remained of his power in 
a direction suited to his own views, and willingly en- 
tered into negotiation with him, though some unfore- 
seen accident prevented any alliance being formed. 
It is quite certain that he could not have concluded 
with this unprincipled man such a treaty as both 
parties appear to have had in contemplation, without 
the most signal bad faith towards the French court, 
to whom he was all the while pretending an earnest 
desire for the amicable termination of their differences. 
But it is equally clear, and beyond all controversy, 
that he entertained Duke John's proposals, that he 
even negotiated for the hand of his daughter, Catha- 
rine of Burgundy, at the very time he was binding 
himself, month after month, to marry none but Ca- 
therine of France ; and that he acted in this intrigue 
with a duplicity little consonant to the ideas com- 
monly entertained of his open and generous cha- 
racter. 1 

But Henry's main reliance for the success of his 
schemes was placed on his own preparations for war, 
and on the crippled state of the country which he de- 
signed to attack, and which presented a remarkable 
contrast to his own dominions, flourishing in the en- 
joyment of perfect tranquillity, under a government 
quite united, undisturbed by any faction. 

May, 1414. . , ,. . . 

At the parliament ot Leicester held m 
spring, as we have seen, his measures were not suffi- 
ciently matured to permit any open avowal of his 

1 Note XXXIII. 



HENRY THE FIETH. 97 

intentions, so that not even the ordinary subsidy was 
asked. In the session held at Westmin- 
ster towards the end of the year his de- 
signs were fully unfolded. The Bishop of Win- 
chester, as Chancellor, again addressed the two Houses, 
and preached a kind of sermon, which, according to 
the fashion of the age, held the place since occupied 
by the speech from the throne. He took for the sub- 
ject of his discourse the text, " While it is time, let 
us work well." He said that, as a tree is first planted, 
then blossoms, next bears, and afterwards reposes, so 
man has allotted to him time of rest and time of 
labour, time of peace and time of war ; and he showed 
how God having blessed the country with perfect 
tranquillity and a good cause of war, there were not 
wanting the two things most essential to the defeat of 
the enemy. But from this doctrine he drew a prac- 
tical inference, what the preachers term an " im- 
provement," that three things were necessary for 
accomplishing the King's purpose of recovering his 
French dominions wrongfully detained — sound coun- 
sel, stout help from the people, and plentiful subsidies 
in money by the Parliament to be granted. Of this 
mind entirely were his hearers ; they immediately 
gave the extraordinary aid of two-tenths and two- 
fifteenths ; and this was the only business of a public 
nature transacted during the session, being indeed the 
only occasion of the meeting, except that the King 
was also empowered to make orders respecting the 
adulteration of the coin, which should have force 

H 



98 HENEY THE FIFTH. 

until the next parliament. 1 As he raised in the 
course of his reign the pound of silver from twenty to 
thirty shillings, a debasement of fifty per cent, in the 
coin, it is probable that the power thus conferred 
upon him was abused to this extent. 2 

About the same time a council of prelates and 
barons was held, at which was made an ordinance that 
no foreigner should, without the King's special licence, 
be promoted to any benefice or degree, and the clergy 
in convocation affirmed it. This proceeding, wholly 
destitute of legal validity, was a consequence of the 
act passed at Leicester the spring before, and Henry 
is said to have seized by these means into his hands 
122 alien priories. The Convocation at the same time 
appointed delegates to represent the English clergy 
at the Council of Constance, then about to be as- 
sembled, for the purpose of terminating the great 
schism in the Church. But the King also sent a nu- 
merous embassy of peers and prelates to represent him- 
self there ; and when it was some time after decreed 
at Constance that, Gregory XII. being required to re- 
sign the papacy, and Benedict XIII. being called upon 
also to renounce, John XXIIL, for whom England had 
declared, should be deposed and excommunicated in 
case he resisted, occasion was taken by the English 
Convocation to seize the money collected for him, and 
deposited at St. Paul's, ready to be remitted. From 
the excellent terms on which Henry then was with 
his clergy, there can be no doubt that this sum was 

1 Eot. Pari., iv. 34. « Hoi., iii. 68 ; T. Wals., 433. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 99 

transferred to him as their gift towards the exigencies 
of the war. 1 

Advantage was taken of the council assembled at 
Westminster for ecclesiastical purposes, to obtain the 
concurrence of the barons in the preparations which 
were now making for war. To the barbarous passions 
and turbulent habits of those men nothing could be 
more congenial. They had not lost the recollection of 
the great victories which half a century before gave the 
English arms, first in the north and then still more in 
the south of France, a renown only equalled by the 
misery they occasioned to both countries ; and, as 
oftentimes happens, they fondly dwelt on those events, 
passing over the ruinous defeats by which they had 
been followed at the close of the Black Prince's life. 
It might even be said that the civil commotions in 
which the barons had subsequently engaged under 
Richard and the usurper bore a meaner character, if 
they were less inexcusable, than the aggressions of 
national violence at once cruel and sordid upon an 
unoffending neighbour. But at all events those half- 
civilized chiefs paused not to weigh such motives and 
such merits in the scales of justice. War was the 
guilty and disreputable occupation of their rude lives ; 
and a war with France in her present exhausted con- 
dition promised both rich plunder and martial fame, 
the two great objects of their habitual desires. 

Accordingly, when the King applied to them for 

1 Rym., ix. 167. T. Wals., Hist., 433. " Pecunia apud Sanctum 
Paulum, in cista deposita, extracta est, melioribus usibus destinata." 

H 2 



100 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

their support, first by his address at the council, 
then by his exhortation in Parliament, and soon after 
by his proclamation summoning all the tenants in 
chief of the crown to join his standard, he not only 
received ample promise of assistance, but the great 
lords hastened to equip their retainers, vying with 
each other in the numbers and the appointments of 
the force which they brought to his command. Some, 
as Northumberland and Westmoreland, raised each 
as many as forty men at arms, or cavaliers, with 
a hundred and thirty archers. 1 But a feudal army, 
never much to be depended on, could now no longer 
be regarded as any solid provision for a foreign ex- 
pedition. The King therefore had recourse to the 
plan of raising men, as had of late years been the 
practice, partly by compelling the counties to send 
reinforcements, and partly by the more modern 
method of recruiting. He further sent persons whose 
discretion and zeal he could trust to hire vessels in 
Holland and Zealand, 2 appointing them to rendezvous 
in London, and in some of the Cinque Ports. He 
strictly prohibited in the maritime towns the exporta- 
tion of gunpowder ; laid an embargo on all vessels 
of above twenty tons burden ; gave leave, in many 
instances, to impress seamen for manning them ; and 
made all the preparations for carriages, stores, arms, 

1 Rym., ix. 218-238. A cavalry soldier's pay was Is. a-day in 
money of that time, or Is. Gd. of our coin, but five times as much in 
value. (Eoyal Household Book, published in 1790 by Ant. Soc, p. 9.) 
The sum of Is. given therein temp. Ed. III. was Is. 6d. temp. Hen. VI. 

2 Rym., ix. 216. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 101 

which the low state of the arts at the time and his 
narrow pecuniary resources allowed. Yet how in- 
adequate the condition of those resources was to any- 
great and costly undertaking we may perceive from 
this — that his treasure, the accumulation of his father's 
avarice and extortions as well as his own financial 
efforts, only amounted to 200,000/., equal to about 
a million and a half of our money at the present day ; 
that he was obliged to mortgage the customs of some 
ports for a trifling sum of 621. (480Z. of our money), 
borrowed from a merchant at Lucca ; that he actually 
pledged to different creditors for further advances, or 
to secure the pay which might become due to the lords 
with their followers, his greater pieces of plate, the 
crown jewels, and even the crown itself. * He then 
held a council of the chief prelates and peers, called 
by special summons, but sitting in their own chamber 
of Parliament; and he declared to them his fixed 
resolution of proceeding to France for the purpose of 
recovering his dominions, announcing at the same 
time the appointment of his brother, the Duke of 
Bedford, his lieutenant during his absence, with a 
council of ten, whom he also named. 2 But he left the 
regency of the realm to his stepmother, the dowager 
Queen, formerly Duchess of Brittany. 

The intelligence of these preparations did not fail 
to alarm the French court, and they made one more 
attempt to turn aside the storm which seemed gather- 
ing to burst upon their devoted country. It was 

1 Eym., ix. 257, 284, and 399. 2 Rym., ix. 223. 



102 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

already exhausted by civil commotion of long standing, 
and which had ended in a protracted civil war. 
Whatever hope could be obtained of assistance from 
the Duke of Burgundy, even if his loyalty was to be 
trusted, had been reduced within a narrow compass 
by the war which had been recently waged against 
him, ravaging his territories with fire and sword, 
burning one of his chief towns (Soissons), and nearly 

destroying another in a protracted siege. 

The Dauphin had indeed assumed the 
regency, but with so strong an opposition from the 
other princes as left little real power in his adminis- 
tration. There is no wonder then that he made a 
last effort to avert the dreadful extremity which 
Henry's ambition was bringing on. 

An embassy, composed of the Archbishop of 
Bourges, the Bishop of Lisieux, and other lords, 
accordingly arrived in London, but after the King 
and his staff had set out on their progress towards the 
coast. He turned aside to Winchester, where he gave 
them a formal audience, receiving them in state, with 
his brothers and many of the prelates and nobles 
attending. The Archbishop made a long speech, 
according to the fashion of the times, in the form of 
a sermon, taking for his text the verse, " Peace be to 
thee and thy house." l But after he had lectured on 
the excellence of peace, being pressed to be more par- 
ticular, he offered, as the price of Henry's disarming, 
the surrender of the Limousin country, with the cities 

1 1 Sam. xxv. 6. 



. 'HENEY THE FIFTH. 103 

of Limoges and Tulle, in addition to the provinces 
before agreed on, and the addition of 50,000 crowns 
(above 60,000/. at this day) to the large sum before 
offered of 800,000 (1,000,000/.). This proposition 
was rejected. Historians differ as to the precise 
ground of the refusal, some affirming that the terms 
were not deemed adequate ; others that the French 
ambassadors declined to specify a day at which their 
part of the conditions should be performed. All, 
however, are agreed that the King renewed his general 
claim to the French crown, and required, as the price 
of his waiving it, the cession of Aquitaine and the 
other provinces which had been wrested from the do- 
minion of England. The peremptory refusal to dis- 
arm or to suspend his hostile operations is on all 
hands admitted ; the only doubt being as to the 
grounds on which that refusal was rested, and no one 
denying that he was resolved to make war unless the 
dismemberment of France were given as a peace- 
offering. 

When the ambassadors fomid that he was bent on 
the conquest of their country, and prepared to seek 
that object by letting loose upon her all the horrors 
of rapine and massacre, they appear to have j u i y ^ 
used language somewhat more violent than 5 * 

might be expected from the ministers of peace, 
though here again a great discrepancy is found in the 
accounts of their reply to Henry's answer. Arch- 
bishop Chichele, the known advocate of the war, was 
the channel through which Henry's refusal was con- 



104 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

veyed, and we may well believe that he did nothing 
by his language to soften its harshness. The French 
prelate indignantly declared that the large conces- 
sions which had been offered were not the dictates of 
fear on his sovereign's part, but of his sincere desire 
for peace. Some historians pretend that he added 
an unmannerly attack upon Henry's title to his own 
crown, and referred to the heir of Eichard as the 
party with whom, but for the wish to avoid a need- 
less ground of quarrel, his royal master ought to have 
treated. But they who give this representation of 
the ambassador's reply, also describe the English 
primate as having used language highly calculated to 
incense those he addressed. He declared, say they, 
that the King was driven to make war by the French 
court withholding from him his undoubted rights, 
which Heaven bad, by the English triumphs over 
France, declared to be his ; and for this refusal, the 
prelate said, of what was his own, Henry would, 
without delay, ravage France with fire and sword, 
exterminate the people, waste the country, and de- 
stroy the towns. 1 

Whatever doubt may hang over the terms in which 
those offers of France were made and were rejected, 
one thing is sufficiently clear — the proposal was a 
sacrifice, extorted by the cruel necessities of her 
situation, to propitiate an insulting enemy ; and 
ample as that sacrifice was, it proved inadequate to 

1 Hoi., ni. 69. Hall, 58. Monst., ch. cxl. Good., 60. Stowe, 
345. Note XXXIV. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 105 

slake his thirst of dominion. There is another cir- 
cumstance in which all the accounts are agreed, and 
it is not immaterial to our estimate of the character 
which these half-civilized men displayed, and the 
spirit of their age. When the primate had made an 
end of his speech, demanding the four great duchies, 
with all the other territories claimed, and declaring 
that, if these were refused, the King would lay waste 
the whole of France, and by his sword wrest the 
crown from Charles, Henry at once assented to all 
the prelate had said, and promised, " with God's aid 
and on the word of a king," to commit those dread- 
ful outrages upon all law and all justice. 1 

This attempt at effecting an accommodation having 
thus failed, as it needs must, Henry's preparations 
were continued and completed. Nor did he, while 
assembling the army for embarkation, neglect such 
precautions as might secure the country against any 
attack during his absence. He sent commissions of 
array into the different counties bordering upon Scot- 
land, Wales, and the Channel ; he concluded a truce 
with Owen Glendower ; and having received intima- 
tion that an incursion from the Scottish border was 
apprehended, he issued proper orders to the wardens 
of the Marches, one of whom, Sir Eobert Umfraville, 
the governor of Roxburgh Castle, a person in whom 
he reposed great confidence, met the in- Jul 22 
vaders, pursued them into Scotland, and 1415 - 
defeated them, with considerable loss, near Jedburgh. 2 

1 Monstrel., ch. cxl. 

2 HoL, iii. 69. Hard., 373. Gettering is the place named, and 



106 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

Everything seemed now ready for the execution of 
a design conceived in the mere lust of aggrandizement 
and plunder, varnished over with no colour of right, and 
outraging every feeling, as well of ordinary morality 
as of public justice. A neighbouring people were 
plunged in extreme distress by the crimes of their 
chiefs, and reduced to great weakness by their in- 
ternal dissensions ; Henry had an army of 30,000 
men, well provided with arms and equipage, the 
weapons of destruction, and the means of subsisting 
while he destroyed ; he had above 1500 vessels hired 
or seized, in which to convey these troops and stores 
across the Channel; therefore he deemed it lawful 
to employ such resources in attacking his defenceless 
neighbours, and seizing upon their possessions, before 
time was given for healing the wounds which civil 
discord had inflicted, and recruiting the strength 
which that plague had exhausted. 

The forces and the transports were all collected at 
Southampton early in July ; and, before the end of 
that month, the King arrived with his court. But, 
while he lay there, a very unexpected incident oc- 
curred, which had well nigh put a period to all his 
schemes, and changed again the dynasty founded by 
his father's usurpation. On the evening before the 
July 21, day nx ed for the sailing of the expedi- 
1415 - tion, a conspiracy was discovered of formi- 
dable aspect; formed, it appears, with very little 

some writers correct it into Getterick (Catterick, in Yorkshire). But 
this is impossible, for the distance of the place from Koxburgh is said 
to be twelve miles. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 107 

preparation, and conducted with no circumspection, 
by the Earl of Cambridge and Sir Thomas Grey, 
with the privity of the Lord le Scroop. Its object 
was to dethrone the King, and prevent the succession 
of his three brothers, which, in such circumstances, 
could only mean the destruction of all four; and 
Marche, the undoubted heir of Richard II., was to 
have been placed on the throne. The hurry with 
which this great crime was punished, and the aver- 
sion of the Lancaster family to all discussions which 
might draw their title into scrutiny, has occasioned 
the suppression of the details connected with the 
event ; and its history is, therefore, involved in great 
obscurity. Scroop was Henry's most intimate and 
confidential friend, the object of his unremitting kind- 
ness, and the person chosen by him as his representa- 
tive in all his most delicate negotiations. His whole 
life, indeed, was passed in the King's society. Cam- 
bridge was brother to Edward Duke of York, who 
had married Marche's sister. Grey was a knight of 
Northumberland, having considerable influence in 
those parts. As soon as the information was given 
these individuals were arrested ; and Cambridge at 
once made a full confession, from which it appeared 
that he was the ringleader of the conspirators. It 
is difficult to determine how far Scroop was a party 
in the plot, impossible to ascertain how far Marche 
was privy to it. Cambridge's confession, a most sus- 
picious kind of historical proof, and no legal proof at 
all, implicated Grey chiefly, pressing much more 



108 HENKY THE FIFTH. 

lightly upon Scroop, while it distinctly charged 
Marche as an accessory. This, together with 
Marche's impunity, and his being suffered to sit 
upon the trial of the conspirators, has given rise to 
a general belief among historians that he disclosed it 
to Henry as soon as he was informed of the scheme. 
But, to show how little reliance was even in those 
days placed upon the confession, Umfraville, whom 
it charged with the design of bringing the pretended 
Eichard from Scotland, enjoyed the King's entire 
confidence after the plot was discovered, as appears 
by the orders issued to him. 1 

No time was lost in bringing the conspirators to 
trial. A special commission was issued, and a true 
bill was found against Cambridge and Grey for high 
treason, in conspiring to dethrone the King and set 
up Marche in his stead, and for intending eventually 
to destroy the King, his brothers, and many other 
grandees of the realm ; against Scroop, for being 
privy to this conspiracy. Cambridge and Grey con- 
fessed the whole matters laid to their charge, and 
threw themselves on the royal mercy. Scroop ad- 
mitted a guilty knowledge and concealment of the 
conspiracy, denying altogether the design of killing 
the King and his brothers ; but, as he desired to be 
tried by his peers, Grey alone was condemned by the 
commission, Cambridge and Scroop being carried 
before a court composed of such peers as happened 

1 Eym., ix. 307. Umfraville is called "Notre foial chevalier" 
August 14, 1415, three weeks after the discovery of the plot. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 109 

to be present at Southampton for the purpose of 
serving in the expedition. In this most irregular, 
and indeed wholly illegal proceeding, Grey was sen- 
tenced without any verdict of a petty jury, and 
merely on his confession when arraigned. The un- 
lawful court of peers 1 had only before it the record 
of what Cambridge and Scroop had said before the 
special commission. Upon that, without any further 
trial, apparently without being heard in their defence, 
Cambridge and Scroop were immediately condemned 
to death by the Lords, the more cruel parts of the 
punishment being remitted f and this sen- Auo-ust 6 
tence was forthwith executed. 3 The addi- 1415 - 
tional charge which most of the old writers have 
made against the conspirators, that they had been 
bribed by the French court to slay the King, or de- 
liver him up with his brothers, appears to be without 
any foundation. The indictment makes no mention 
of it, neither does Cambridge's confession ; and we 
can hardly suppose that such an accusation against 
the French, had there been the least ground for it, 
would have been left wholly unnoticed in the remon- 
strances which Henry presented to his adversary. 4 

1 It was as if a peer in a regiment were tried for treason or felony 
before such of his brother officers as happened to be peers. 

2 Eot. Pari., iv. 66. Kym., ix. 300. 

3 Stowe, 346. He very inaccurately states the trial and execution 
to have taken place the day after the King received the information of 
the plot. The information was given July 21 — the trials were on the 
2nd and 5th of August. 

4 Hall, 61. — Hoi., hi. 69. — Good., 65. — Grafton gives the common 
report, but adds that it was denied by many. He, however, speaks of 



1 10 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

The illegality of all the proceedings at Southampton 
appears to have struck even the lawyers and states- 
men of that age as too glaring to let the conviction 
be safely rested on its own merits. An act was 
therefore passed as soon as the Parliament met, de- 
claring the sentence and punishment valid. 1 

On the 15th 2 of August the expedition put to 
sea, and late on the following evening reached the 
small town of Caux, or Kidcase, in Normandy, where 
the troops were disembarked without opposition, and, 
after marching to Harfleur, seven miles distant, en- 
camped near its walls. Henry, true to his policy of 
conciliating the Church and appealing to the religious 
sentiments of the people, had knelt down as soon as 
he landed, and prayed for the Divine blessing on his 
unjust aggression: this he called supplicating for 
justice against his enemies. He then issued a pro- 
clamation, forbidding, on pain of death, all plunder 
of the churches, and all violence to any priest or 
friar; and, when the tents were pitched, he had a 
large one erected behind his own, to serve for a 
chapel to the troops. The proclamation had exempted 
from violence all persons not bearing arms, as well as 
the priests. But, as soon as the siege commenced, 

Cambridge having confessed it, 512. — T. Wals.,435, says, " Utfertur." 
— Fabyan, 79, makes no mention of it. He gives July 29 as the date, 
and that the execution was the day after the trial. 

1 Rot. Pari., iv. 66. 

2 I have given this date instead of Stowe's, who has the 13th (347). 
My reason is, that we have in Rym., ix. 307, a Proclamation dated 
August 14, at Southampton. T. Elm., 36, gives the 13th as the day. 
T. Liv., 8, in substance agrees with this date. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 1 1 1 

the soldiers were ordered to ravage the surrounding 
country in all directions, inflicting the utmost misery 
on the unoffending inhabitants, in order to intercept 
the supplies of the town, and to secure a booty for 
the invading army. The siege lasted above five 
weeks ; the garrison and the townsfolk were re- 
duced to the extreme of wretchedness by famine as 
well as by disease; all hopes of relief were cut off 
by the feeble state of the French government ; and, 
at last, after showing the greatest fortitude in bearing 
extraordinary privations, as well as admirable courage 
in defending themselves, they were compelled to 
surrender at discretion. The place was given up to 
indiscriminate sack and slaughter. A large sum was 
extorted by the avarice of the invaders, as ransom 
for the soldiers who were taken, and who would have 
been detained in captivity, had conquest alone, with- 
out the more sordid desire of plunder, been the object 
of the invasion. The greater part of the people, but 
chiefly the women and children, were driven from the 
town, with the insulting mockery of a few pence 
given to each by way of provision ; and their place 
was supplied by crowds of artisans, tradesmen, and 
labourers brought over from England. 

The siege, however, had proved nearly as disas- 
trous to the conquerors as to the vanquished. Beside 
many slain in the constant skirmishes which took 
place, a much greater number perished by sickness ; 
for, the weather proving much more severe than is 
usual so early in the season, the days were hot, and 



112 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

the nights cold. The ravenous desire of pillage, too, 
made the English army drive to their camp all the 
cattle they could collect, and these, being slaughtered 
far beyond the consumption of the troops, poisoned 
the air with putrid exhalations. 1 Thus, after leaving 
a garrison in the captured town, the English were 
reduced to considerably less than half their original 
strength of 30,000 men. The winter season, too, 
approached, and the cold, already great, threatened 
an increase. The Dauphin, acting for his father, 
was enabled, by the general indignation and alarm 
which the invasion spread, to collect a large army 
for the defence of the kingdom, and Henry had no 
immediate prospect of reinforcements. He therefore 
abandoned all thoughts of advancing further into the 
country; and finding it difficult to re-embark his 
troops, an operation which would certainly have been 
opposed, and would also have been regarded as a 
confession of failure, if not of defeat, he resolved to 
retreat upon Calais by short marches. In the exe- 
cution of this design, however, he easily perceived 
that he must be exposed to the greatest dangers, not 
improbably to the entire destruction of his army, 
from the daily increase of numbers which the de- 
fenders of their country were receiving. 

The position, indeed, in which he now found him- 
self, was difficult and distressing in the extreme. 
The French had driven away all the cattle on the 

1 T. Wals., Hist., 437. Ypod. Neust., 189. T. Liv., 11. T. Elm., 
44. Monstrel., ch. cxliii., cxlvi. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 1 13 

line of his march, and destroyed whatever grain and 
other provisions they could not remove ; so that his 
army, day after day, was reduced to new straits, 
forced to feed on raw chestnuts, on asses' flesh and 
other carrion, without even having a plentiful supply 
of such disgusting and noxious aliments. The early 
winter made the rains of each day be succeeded by 
piercing frosts in the night. Covering, shelter; fuel, 
they had none, to afford relief from the inclemency 
of the weather. Putrid fever and dysentery had 
been brought with them from before Harfleur, and 
were exacerbated by their other sufferings. The 
towns of any note were all so far provided with gar- 
risons, that Henry durst not attempt to enter them ; 
and any humble and indefensible villages that lay in 
his way could yield no resources. He was con- 
stantly harassed on his march, both by sallies of 
troops from the strong places, and by the peasants 
rising in a mass to exterminate invaders who had 
brought such calamities upon their country ; so that 
his men knew not what rest was for an instant by 
day or by night, even had they possessed any kind 
of shelter under which to taste repose. Add to all 
these sufferings the hourly expectation of attack 
from enemies five times his numbers, daily re- 
ceiving reinforcements, suffering under none of the 
privations which continually thinned his ranks and 
paralyzed those that survived, defending their own 
country with the blessings and help of their fellow- 
citizens, while he traversed, slowly and suffering, the. 

i 



114 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

fields of an unoffending people, amidst their loud and 
just execrations. The gallant resistance made so 
unexpectedly at Harfleur, and the sickness which 
there visited his army, must oftentimes, during the 
leisure of the siege, have brought on reflections 
sufficiently painful to a generous nature, which evil 
training had rather perverted than altered. But it 
would not be easy to imagine the distress in which 
the eighteen days of his sad march to Maisoncelles 
must have been passed, surrounded by the misery he 
had brought on his own people ; conscious that he 
had, if possible, still less right to harass his adver- 
saries ; and expecting the just retribution that seemed 
to await him, when they should avenge their wrongs 
by his destruction. 

In this emergency it is certain that he was found 
not unequal to the greatness of the occasion, either 
in firmness, in courage, or in prudence. He appears, 
indeed, to have displayed all the qualities of a great 
captain ; and we are only left to lament that such 
rare and excellent endowments, instead of being em- 
ployed in a just and lawful contest, should have been 
exerted, first, to injure his fellow-creatures, and then 
to secure his own and his army's escape from the 
punishment they so well deserved. 

He made his march with perfect deliberation and 
composure, not dispiriting his own men, or encou- 
raging his enemies by any seeming impatience or 
anxiety. Once or twice, as at Eu, he took advantage 
of an attack made upon him, with unequal force, to 



HENEY THE FIFTH. 115 

repulse it with loss. The only places where any 
omission had been made to waste the country, he 
ravaged, so as to obtain some scanty supplies. En- 
deavouring to pass the Somme at Blanquetage, where 
Edward the Third had crossed before the battle of 
Crecy, he found that ford well guarded, as were all 
the other shallows ; and where no force was stationed, 
stakes and spikes had been driven into the bed of the 
river. He therefore made a sudden movement to 
the right by Airaines, and was thus brought to some 
villages not deserted. These he burnt, after giving 
them up to pillage. 1 He sent out light troops to 
scour the country on all sides, and prevent any sur- 
prise. Again and again foiled in his attempt to pass 
the river, he came to the bridge of St, Maxence, but 
found it defended by an army of 30,000 men, more 
than three times his own force. Here then he halted, 
and prepared to fight, not doubting that he should 
be immediately attacked. But the offer of battle 
thus made was not accepted : such was the boldness 
of the front he showed, and so secure did the French 
feel, as indeed they well might, that he could never 
escape to Calais, though they should let him alone. 
After this halt he moved by Amiens upon Boves, 
where he again stopped, and for two days offered 
battle, but it was again refused. He therefore moved 
up the river upon Corbie ; and the peasants having 
risen, and, with some support from the troops in that 
town, attacked him, he made such resistance as com- 

1 Note XXXV. 

I 2 



116 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

pelled them to retreat with considerable loss. At 
length, near Betancourt, between Hani and St. Quen- 
tin, he discovered a ford, which the garrison of the 
former place had, in disobedience of the orders given 
by the Dauphin, neglected to protect with stakes, 
and so he succeeded in passing over his army. 

The French appear to have placed their main re- 
liance upon defending the line of the Somme, and to 
have prudently resolved that there should be no 
attack made upon Henry as long as he was kept on 
the left bank. His unexpected success in crossing 
gave them, naturally, some uneasiness ; and a council 
was held by the King and the Dauphin at Kouen, 
whither the court had come upon the fall of Harfleur. 
A difference of opinion prevailed, but the great ma- 
jority 1 were clear that the English must not be suf- 
fered to reach Calais without a battle. Their reso- 
lution to engage him was, according to the laws of 
chivalry which then prevailed, communicated to 
Henry by a herald, naming the time and place where 
they were ready to give him the meeting. But he 
answered that he should neither take counsel nor 
law from his enemies ; adding, however, that he nei- 
ther sought nor shunned a fight with them. 2 The 
French troops then moved rapidly on from all points, 
and succeeded, from their vast superiority of num- 
bers, in getting before him to St. Pol, on the 
Aim ion. 

1 All the authorities say the majority was of thirty-five to five. 

2 Mezeray, i. 1005. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 117 

It is said by some writers, and the state of the 
campaign renders the report probable, that, seeing 
himself hemmed in, he offered to give up Harfleur, 
and to make compensation for all the damage his 
invasion had caused, provided he might be allowed 
to retreat unmolested on Calais. 1 If such an offer 
was wisely made, it was with manifest, but not very 
unpardonable, imprudence, rejected, from the con- 
fidence which filled the French of gaining such a 
victory as must inflict a signal punishment upon their 
enemy, and prevent all future aggression on his part. 
Both parties now prepared for the battle, which was 
fought on St. Crispin's-day, 25th October, near the 
castle of Agincourt, or Azincour, close to Maison- 
celles. 

The French were commanded by the Constable 
D'Albret, and Marshal Boucicault under him. Dam- 
piere, the high admiral, was also present, with the 
other great officers of the crown, the Dukes of 
Orleans, Bourbon, Bar, Alen^on, and almost all the 
great nobles of France, except the Duke of Bur- 
gundy, whose two brothers, however, Brabant and 
Nevers, were there. He himself stood aloof, nor 
would permit his son Charolois to join, in conse- 
quence of Henry's intrigues, his own sordid scheme 
of joining the victorious party, and his criminal de- 
sign to profit by the event, should it prove disastrous 
to his country. Henry had the invaluable assistance 
of Sir Thomas Erpingham, an old and experienced 

1 Mezeray, i. 1605. 



1 1 8 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

warrior, who placed his men in the order naturally 
suggested by their inferiority of number to the 
enemy's force, and by the protection of a wood on 
each flank. Archers alone were posted in the front, 
the men at arms or cavalry behind them ; the bill- 
men and archers together composed the third line ; 
on the wings were bodies of both horse and foot, and 
the baggage with the draught horses occupied the 
ground in the rear. Each of the archers in the van 
had a strong stake shod with iron at both ends, and 
which could be driven before him slanting into the 
ground, so that a hedge was formed, behind which 
that important body of men, the main reliance of the 
army, could retreat after shooting their arrows, chiefly 
directed at the enemy's horse. Erpingham had also 
sent a strong detachment of bowmen into Tramecour 
Wood, a concealed position, protected by a deep 
ditch, on the flank of the French van ; they were to 
advance and shoot at the horse on a signal being 
given. The front rank was commanded by the Duke 
of York at his own earnest request, probably to re- 
move the suspicions cast upon his loyalty by his bro- 
ther Cambridge's recent treason. The King com- 
manded the second line in person, accompanied by 
his brothers Clarence and Gloster. The third was 
Oct. 25, under his uncle the Duke of Exeter. The 
1415. French were drawn up also in three divi- 
sions, but thirty men deep instead of three. The 
ground was much too narrow for their numbers, and 
this proved most disastrous, by preventing their great 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 119 

force from being brought to bear upon their adver- 
saries, and also from getting away when overpowered. 
Wise by the experience of Crecy and Poitiers, 
where they had been the assailants, the Constable 
remained fixed, on the defensive ; so that Henry was 
forced to begin the engagement, which he did by 
making the signal for the detachment at Tramecour 
to use their bows. These exceedingly galled the 
French, especially on their advance to meet the 
English van, which, rushing from behind their pali- 
sade, poured a destructive volley into the French 
cavalry, and then retreated behind their wooden ram- 
part. The recent rain had made the ground exceed- 
ingly slippery and difficult for cavalry heavily laden ; 
the arrows greatly added to this obstruction by ter- 
rifying the horses ; the narrow space, crowded with 
men, prevented them from retreating, and, becoming 
unmanageable, they plunged back upon the foot 
soldiers, throwing the whole front division into the 
greatest confusion. The English archers now, sling- 
ing their bows behind them, made great havoc with 
their swords and battle-axes ; and Henry, observing 
the favourable opportunity for his cavalry to act, led 
them forward, and they penetrated to the second 
division of the enemy. A most obstinate conflict now 
ensued, in which he exposed himself to the greatest 
danger ; and, indeed, after being at one time felled to 
the ground by the blow of a mace, he had his crown 
and helmet struck severely by Alencon, who, rushing 
through the ranks to meet him, had killed the Duke 



120 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

of York, but was himself dispatched on the spot, 
where the King had been with difficulty rescued. 
Clarence, too, was thrown down, severely wounded, 
and only saved by the gallantry and strength of 
Henry, who, after striking Alencon to the ground, is 
said to have slain two of his attendants with his own 
hand. The death of Alencon led to the immediate 
flight of the second French division. While prepar- 
ing to attack the third, still unbroken, Henry re- 
ceived intelligence that the baggage and horses in the 
rear (some accounts say at his head-quarters of Mai- 
soncellesj were attacked, and, without waiting to 
inquire how far the report was exaggerated, he gave 
immediate and peremptory orders that every soldier 
should put his prisoners to death. The men, for fear 
of losing the ransom, the hope of which alone in those 
times caused quarter to be given, hesitated, and 
would probably have disobeyed, but he directed two 
hundred archers, under a knight whom he could 
trust, to perforin this honourable service. The com- 
mission was immediately executed, and many thou- 
sands perished before it was discovered that the 
attempt upon the baggage had been made by a body 
of peasants, under two knights of Burgundy. 1 Whe- 
ther this dreadful massacre, or the confusion already 
existing in the front lines of the French army, or the 
fires which had just been kindled in the rear by one 
of the detached parties, was the cause, remains un- 
certain ; but the third line was seized with a panic, 

1 Note XXXVI. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 121 

and could not be rallied to follow their commanders. 
The victory, therefore, was complete, although the 
English had no power of following it up, either by 
undertaking any offensive operations, or even by pur- 
suing those who fled from the field. 

The loss of the French in this great fight has 
never been stated at less than 10,000 men ; but 
among these the flower of the nobility and gentry 
were cut off, for there fell 126 princes and great 
lords, and above 8000 knights and^ esquires. Above 
1500 prisoners, too, were taken, almost all persons of 
consideration. Among the slain were the Constable 
Albret, commander-in-chief; the high admiral, Dam- 
piere, with many other officers of state ; the Dukes 
of Alencon and Bar ; the Burgundian's two brothers, 
Brabant and Nevers. Among the prisoners were 
the Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, and Marshal 
Boucicault, 1 second in command. The cheapness of 
the victory to the English has been described by dif- 
ferent writers with an almost unexampled degree of 
exaggeration and variety. 2 Some accounts represent 
the whole number of killed as not above twenty, 
others as not amounting to thirty, while some make 
it 600, and the more credible accounts 1600, which 
it may be remarked bears nearly the same proportion 
to the whole force that the loss of the French does to 
their army. From hence we may learn how hardly 

1 Note XXXVII. 

2 Wals. Hist., 450. Polych., cccxxxi. Fab., 530. Hall, 72. Hoi., 
iii. 83. Monst, ch. cxlix. Stowe, 350. T. Liv., 19. T. Elm., 62 
Juv. des Urs., 314. P. de Fen., 461. 



122 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

the victory was contested ; nor can it be doubted that 
the French owed their defeat not more to the unfa- 
vourable nature of the ground on which they fought, 
than to the absolute confidence with which they 
made sure of an easy triumph, and the sovereign con- 
tempt in which they held the inferior numbers and 
distressed condition of their adversaries. The Con- 
stable does not appear to have been deficient in the 
duties of a commander, except that he erred in fight- 
ing on a disadvantageous ground, unable perhaps to 
restrain the impetuosity of his sanguine troops. But 
when all his men had so fully expected a cheap vic- 
tory that they looked for hardly any resistance, the 
first reverse threw them into confusion, and their 
overweening confidence, so ill founded, was succeeded 
by as groundless despair. 

Henry, on his part, wisely considered that he had 
rather made a great escape by brilliant efforts than 
won such an advantage as entitled him to feel assured 
of continued success. He therefore hastened to pur- 
sue his march towards Calais, and moved thitherward 
on the very morning after the battle. In traversing 
the field, his troops put to death such of the wounded 
as they could not carry away prisoners, and plundered 
all the things of any value which they could find. 
The same want of provisions, the same inclement 
weather, and the same severe maladies, continued to 
affect his army, which had so deplorably reduced it 
on the march to Agincourt ; and they arrived ex- 
hausted and wretched at Calais. Here the form of 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 123 

a council was held, to decide whether they should 
return to England, or make another attempt on 
France. But, in their crippled state, with hardly 
any men fit to keep the field, this wears the air more 
of a bravado than a serious deliberation. The reason 
falsely and hypocritically assigned by the council, 
and which is said to have convinced Henry, if it did 
not proceed from his own suggestion, was, that Pro- 
vidence having declared in favour of his claims to the 
crown of France by the late victory, enough had been 
done for the present to establish his right, and that 
another time the same powerful protection would 
enable him to obtain the possession which he sought. 
It is fit that we now pause, to consider the great 
talents which Henry displayed during this incursion, 
as well as in preparing the means by which he was 
enabled to make it. He does not appear to have 
omitted any one measure which, in his circumstances, 
afforded a reasonable prospect of aiding his attempt, 
or any one precaution which seemed adapted to secure 
his dominions against harm from internal or external 
opposition during his absence. If honesty and good 
faith be put out of the question, his court of the 
clergy, his intrigue with the Burgundian, his refrain- 
ing from all demands on the Parliament till the very 
last moment, his appeal to them, to his nobles, to his 
prelates at the council, and all the vigorous measures, 
both for recruiting his army, collecting a fleet, and 
supplying the absolute want of funds, entitle him to 
the praise of a provident, firm, and skilful ruler. In 



124 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

the expedition itself his genius for war shone forth 
with extraordinary lustre. It would be difficult to 
cite any instance of that most difficult of military 
operations, a retreat, conducted with more skill and 
more fortitude, in more difficult circumstances, than 
the march from Harfleur to Maisoncelles. His valour 
in the field was as conspicuous, though doubtless far 
less to be admired, because a much less rare accom- 
plishment, than the calmness with which he faced the 
clangers of his position before the battle, and the 
ability with which he provided for surmounting them. 
There wants no foil to set off the lustre of this 
achievement ; yet it is difficult to avoid the reflection 
suggested by the accident of the two victories having 
been gained nearly on the same ground, that his an- 
cestor both before and in the battle of Crecy had an 
incomparably easier task, and did not perform it with 
more distinguished ability or more complete success. 

The return of Henry to England with his captives 
and his booty 1 was, as might be expected, greeted 
with every demonstration of joy by the multitude, 
too giddy either to reflect on the origin or on the 
result of national quarrels, and ever prone, especially 
in a rude age, to take peculiar delight in the contem- 
plation of warlike exploits, and exalt above all other 
classes of men those who have led their followers to 
victory. The passage from Calais was so tempes- 
tuous that some vessels of the fleet were 

Nov. 1415. , . _ . _ . ,_ 

driven as lar as the Dutch coast. Yet the 

1 Note XXXVIH. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 125 

height of the waves did not restrain the burgesses of 
Dover from rushing into the sea, and the King was 
borne ashore in their arms. The magistrates and the 
secular clergy, with the friars, assembled in proces- 
sion to receive him. His journey to the capital was, 
through the towns especially, a triumphal progress. 
At Blackheath he was met by the mayor, aldermen, 
and commons of London, attired in more than the 
accustomed gorgeousness of civic pomp, and depart- 
ing from their constant usage of remaining within the 
city walls. The metropolitan clergy waited on him, 
bearing in solemn order the relics of seventy saints. 
The whole city gave itself up to boundless rejoicing, 
in the outward signs of which the vulgar taste of the 
age shone forth with signal glare. The gates and 
the streets were lined with tapestry, picturing the 
ancient victories of the English arms. Laurels in 
whole thickets were everywhere displayed. Children 
appeared aloft, representing cherubs, and chanting 
hymns, in which the praises of the King were min- 
gled with those of the Almighty ; and, that more 
substantial objects might regale the senses, artificial 
rills of the luscious wines deemed in those times the 
most precious of drinks were so conducted as to 
diffuse copiously this esteemed beverage. The con- 
queror, however, thought fit to interpose and restrain 
the flattery of the day. Devoutly ascribing the suc- 
cess of his arms to the favour of Heaven alone, he 
stopped the procession at St. Paul's, that he might 
there make his offerings before he reached his palace ; 



126 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

and lie forbade all further celebration of his victory, 
either by the poesy or the songs of his obsequious 
and intoxicated people. So overpowered, indeed, was 
he with humility, that he would not suffer his helmet 
to be borne before him, lest the blows which it had 
received and withstood might be exhibited to the 
admiration of the spectators. But it was otherwise 
with him at the ensuing festival of Christmas : that 
he caused to be celebrated with more than ordinary 
solemnity, and with every kind of feasting as well as 
pomp. A general thanksgiving was likewise held for 
the late successes, and the Divine aid supplicated in 
behalf of a war undertaken without the shadow of just 
ground, professedly to support the most extravagant 
of imaginary claims, but really to gratify a sordid 
love of plunder. 1 

The Parliament which met under the Kegent Bed- 
Nov. 12 f° ra \ before the King's return, partaking of 

1415. the general enthusiasm inspired by his ex- 
pedition, had granted a tenth and a fifteenth, while it 
advanced the term of payment of the last year's sub- 
sidy. It had likewise granted duties on wool and 
other merchandize for the King's life. The Parlia- 

March 16 ment which Henry called in the following 

1416. S p r i n g showed a similar liberality, advancing 
the subsidy granted to the Regent from Martinmas 
to Whitsuntide. The session, being closed in three 
weeks, was recommenced soon after Easter, when the 

1 T. de Elm., 72. T. Wals., 440. Tit. Liv., 22. Monstrel., cap. cli. 
Hoi., iii. 83. Hall, 22. Stowe, 551. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 127 

King announced that proposals of peace had been 
received from France through his kinsman Sigis- 
mund, King of the Romans, and Emperor elect. 

This prince had arrived to visit Henry during the 
recess ; he was well known for his successful efforts to 
terminate the schism in the Church by the Council 
of Constance ; and, as he had, or pretended to have, 
some grievances against France, he was received in 
England with extraordinary pomp, entertained with 
great magnificence, and, together with the Duke of 
Holland, who came over about the same time, was 
honoured with the order of the Garter. An acci- 
dent, however, had at first thrown some impediment 
in the way of his reception. While at Paris, on his 
journey, he had been present at a sitting of the Par- 
liament, and out of respect for his rank, or from 
courtesy towards a guest, had been placed in the 
royal chair. A cause chanced to be hearing, in 
which one of the parties, claiming under a grant from 
the crown, was about to fail, as incapable of receiving 
such a gift, for want of a knight's degree. Sigis- 
mund, calling for a sword, removed the objection by 
conferring that honour on the party, and the cause 
was decided in his favour. This injudicious inter- 
ference, however, moved the displeasure of the 
French monarch, who did not fail to reprove the 
Parliament for permitting so unseemly a proceeding. 
The accounts of the transaction had preceded the 
Emperor to England ; and, before he was suffered to 
land, he had to disavow all design of setting up any 



128 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

imperial claim inconsistent with the entire independ- 
ence of the crown. After this he remained during 
his visit upon the most cordial and familiar terms 
with Henry and his court. 1 

Having offered his mediation while at Paris, an 
embassy had been fitted out under the Bishop of 
Rheims and other nobles, and these accompanied the 
Emperor to London. But, before any progress could 
be made in the negotiation, an event occurred which 
widened still more the breach between the two 
countries. The Count d'Armagnac had succeeded 
D'Albret as Constable after the battle of Agincourt, 
and he had soon taken occasion to signalize his 
accession to the command. Dorset, the Governor 
of Harfleur, had, immediately before the Emperor's 
arrival in England, sallied forth with a force of three 
thousand men, and pillaged the country to the gates 
of Rouen. The French, under Armagnac, had set 
upon him with a superior army, retaken all the booty 
and the prisoners captured by him, pursued him with 
great loss, forced him to seek shelter under the walls 
of Harfleur, and had only been prevented from taking 
the whole English force by a severe reverse sustained 
in attempting to intercept them before they reached 
the town. The result of this expedition, however, 
had compelled Dorset to remain wholly on the 
defensive; and Armagnac, profiting by the naval 
superiority which enabled the French at that time to 
insult the whole southern coast of England, laid siege 

1 Hoi., iii. 85. Goodw., 103. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 129 

to Harfleur, which he invested closely on all sides. 
The garrison was thus reduced to the greatest ex- 
tremity by the want of all supplies ; and Henry was 
under the necessity of either surrendering it or 
fitting out an expedition, which, by giving him the 
command of the sea, might enable him to relieve the 
place. He decided on the latter course, with his 
wonted promptitude ; and so great anxiety was felt 
for the success of the enterprise, the rather because 
the French had obtained the naval assistance of their 
Genoese allies, that he was minded to take the com- 
mand himself*, but the Emperor, who had insinuated 
himself into his confidence by the dislike which he 
showed of France, dissuaded him from an under- 
taking that seemed fitter for subordinate hands, and 
the Duke of Bedford was intrusted with the conduct 
of it. In this service that prince displayed his ac- 
customed gallantry and skill. Notwithstanding most 
unfavourable weather, both storms and calms opposing 
him, he defeated the French fleet, and captured the 
three largest of the Genoese vessels. That the 
enemy's loss, however, could not have been so great, 
nor his discomfiture so complete, as contemporary 
historians have represented, is manifest Auo . 14 
from this, that when the duke followed up 1416 - 
his victory by attempting to victual the besieged 
town, he was again opposed, and had to disperse a 
naval force collected against him the day after the 
engagement. This further success enabled him to 
accomplish his purpose ; the garrison was relieved 

K 



130 HENEY THE FIFTH. 

by sufficient supplies, and Armagnac raised the 
siege. 1 

These events, however, frustrated all Sigismund's 
well-meant endeavours to effect an accommodation 
between France and England. Henry was evidently 
disinclined to peace : he gave as a reason against it, 
that the discomfiture of Dorset's expedition would be 
regarded as having disheartened, if not dismayed him ; 
but his hopes of further success were the real cause 
of his determination to persist in the war ; and these 
hopes were grounded not more upon his past victories, 
both by sea and land, than upon the state of affairs 
in France. He therefore renewed his former ex- 
travagant demands of the restitution of all that had 
ever belonged to the English crown. The Emperor, 
despairing of peace, returned to his own dominions ; 
and Henry accompanied him as far as Calais, where 
he renewed his intrigues with the Burgundian, whom 
the French court so vehemently suspected of siding 
with the common enemy, that orders were given to 
exclude his envoys from the conference then holding 
of the French delegates at Constance, in connexion 
with the proceedings of the Council. 2 But the better 
opinion seems to be that this unprincipled man was 
not sufficiently satisfied of Henry's success against 
France to break with her and side with him ; while it 
is certain that the only documents of the negotiation 

1 T. Elm., 79. T. Liv., 25. Hardynge, 377. Monstrel., c. clxv. 
T. Wals., 441. Hoi., iii. 84. Hall, 73. Otterb., i. 278. Note 
XXXIX. 

2 Monstrel., cli. clxi. Rym., ix. 401, 436. 



HENRY THE FIFTH, 131 

which have reached us are unfinished drafts of con- 
ventions that were never executed. Between Henry 
and Sigismund, on the other hand, a treaty was con- 
cluded, by which each party became bound Alig; . n 
to aid the other if attacked, and to make 14:16, 
neither peace nor war without giving the other 
notice, and each engaged to assist the other in pro- 
secuting his claims against France. 1 This Oct. 19 
treaty was afterwards confirmed in Parlia- 1416 - 
ment. 2 

It was not without good grounds that Henry 
reckoned upon the divided councils which paralysed 
and the intestine dissensions which distracted France. 
The Burgundian, who upon the defeat at Agincourt 
had marched as far as Lagny, and, after a lengthened 
halt in that town, 3 finding he could not succeed in an 
attempt to regain his influence at Paris, had returned 
to his own states, proceeded, on the Duke de 

-r, •» i t • i -r> i • June, 1416. 

Bern s death, to seize upon the Boulonnais 
as an escheat to his own duchy. Thus he was ever 
ready to take advantage of any change, but especially 
of any change unfavourable to the party of the 
Armagnacs. The new Constable, their leader, in- 
toxicated with the ascendant which he had gained 
over his rival, had made himself hated by many acts 
of oppression. The King's malady only allowed him 
occasional lucid intervals. A foul conspiracy of the 

1 Kym., ix. 401, 436, 377. * p l0t . Pari., iv. 96. 

3 His lingering six weeks there got hirn the name at Paris of Jean 
de Lagny, and Jean le Long, instead of Jean Sans Peur. 

K 2 



132 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

Burgundian to seize his person, and murder the Queen 
Isabel and her counsellors, had failed 
' through an accident, but left a general dis- 
trust and alarm in men's minds. The Dauphin Lewis 
having died, and been succeeded by his brother John, 
a youth entirely under the Burgundian influence, he 
too died in the following spring, suddenly, 
and not without suspicion of having been 
poisoned by the Armagnacs ; and thus the Constable 
became sole possessor of the King's person, as well 
as that of Charles, who succeeded his brother as 
Dauphin and heir-apparent to the crown. 

In this state of things it was that Henry pressed 
forward his preparations for another campaign. But 
these had been commenced before the end of the pre- 
ceding year, while affairs in France wore by no means 
so bad an aspect ; nor can we doubt that the hope of 
plunder alone dictated this, as it certainly had occa- 
sioned the former invasion, any rational expectation 
of conquest being at the time wholly impossible to be 
Oct. 19 entertained. The rupture of the negotia- 
1416 - tion patronised by the Emperor was an- 
nounced to Parliament at its meeting in October; 
the embarrassment of French affairs only became 
hopelessly complicated in the ensuing spring ; and 
the accidental quarrel between the Armagnacs and 
the Queen, which alone could give the chance of per- 
manent success to the English expedition, happened 
several months after the preparations for it had been 
begun, indeed when it was nearly ready. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 133 

The Parliament, partaking of Henry's impetuous 
ambition, but without the prudence which directed it, 
had no sooner been apprised by the speech or sermon 
of the chancellor, Bishop of Winton, that peace must 
be conquered by the sword, and that the war must 
be vigorously supported, than they granted two 
tenths and two fifteenths to be paid on all lay pro- 
perty at Candlemas and Martinmas next ; but in con- 
sideration of the accelerated payment enacted the year 
before, and which was probably felt to be burthen- 
some, a condition was annexed, that the levy of this 
new aid -should in no maimer of way be advanced, 
and that no other impost whatever should be laid on. 
A very important provision was, however, added, that 
the last instalment of one-fourth * might be pledged 
for the repayment of such sums as any corporate 
bodies, prelates, or private individuals might lend to 
the King ; and this in all probability is the origin of 
the loans which have formed so large and so fatal an 
article of our finances — loans which are made on the 
security of taxes, and by authority of Parliament ; 2 
and which, if they have occasionally proved of signal 
service under the pressure of great emergencies, have 
been the fruitful source of wars, of public extrava- 
gance, and of burthens hardly to be endured by the 
most wealthy, as they are hardly to be approved by 
the most unreflecting, people. 

The clergy were not behind the rest of the king- 

1 Half a tenth, and half a fifteenth, payable Martinmas, 1417. 

2 Note XL. 



134 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

dom in testifying their disposition to co-operate in 

the execution of Henry's ambitious projects. The 

April 29, Convocation met when the Regent 1 assem- 

1415 - bled the Parliament, and granted a tenth 
for the support of the war, which had from the first 
been a favourite good work with these ministers of 

April 1, peace. When the King afterwards brought 
141 6 * them together, in the following spring, be- 
side advancing the payment of that subsidy six 
Nov 9j months, they granted a second ; and on 

1416 - their meeting in November they gave two 
more tenths, at the earnest request of the Bishop of 
Winton; so that they thus, within less than twelve 
months, taxed themselves for the military service of 
the State to the amount of no less than two-fifths of 
their whole personal property. They, indeed, were 
at this time in a more than ordinary accordance with 
the views of the civil power ; for, beside their desire 
to find occupation for the prince and his barons, and 
to turn away all men's minds from the design che- 
rished by the new sect against Church property, the 
King entirely agreed with them respecting the Schism 
of the Papacy, and the course to be pursued in con- 
sequence of that event, both at home and at the 
Council of Constance. 

It was thought to afford a favourable opportunity 
for enforcing the laws made against pro visors, 2 that is, 

1 Bedford was termed only the king's lieutenant, the queen being 
regent, or custos regni — but he had all the power. 

2 Provisors were the persons who obtained and used provisions. 



HENEY THE FIFTH. 135 

against all interference of the Roman See 1 with 
Church patronage in the hands of spiritual persons. 
The statutes made to restrain this usurpation, first 
by Edward I., at the close of his reign, 2 afterwards 
by his son, and still more by his grandson, 3 had been 
further enforced in the reigns of Ei chard II. 4 and 
Henry IV. ; 5 and the severe penalties of outlawry, 
forfeiture, and imprisonment, comprised in the pro- 
cess of praemunire, had failed to put down the prac- 
tice of obtaining provisions or presentations to livings 
already full, and thereby disturbing the lawful pos- 
sessors both of the patronage and the incumbency. 
Henry now took advantage of the Great Schism to 
promote a bill for still further enforcing the former 
acts ; and a law was accordingly made, declaring all 
provisions void, denouncing the statutory penalties 
against all provisors or purchasers of such presenta- 
tions, directing the process of praemunire against 
them ; and further, giving treble damages to those 
who should sue out that process. 

It is to be observed, however, that the restriction 
of the Pope's patronage had been found to lessen the 
number of learned men in the Church, and the Com- 
mons besought the King to afford some relief to the 
students of the two Universities, aggrieved by their 
exclusion from Church preferment. But, instead of 

1 3 Hen. V., St. 2, c. iv. Note XLI. 

2 35 Ed. I., c. i. St. 2 (of Carlisle, made just before his death). 

3 25 Ed. III., St. 4. 

4 13 Eic. II., c. ii., iii. ; 16 Eic. II. c. v. 

5 7 Hen. IV , c. viii. ; 2 Hen. IV., c. iii. ; 9 Hen. IV., c. viii. 



1 36 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

promoting a law to this effect, Henry referred the 
whole matter to the spiritual peers, who promised to 
provide some remedy ; l and the Convocation made 
an ordinance that alternate presentations should be 
bestowed on graduates. The King's favour towards 
the clergy was plainly evinced in this proceeding. 

A further grace was shown to them by his obtain- 
ing an act which prohibited the preferment of Irish 
priests to livings or dignities in Ireland, and also for- 
bade, under severe penalties, the bringing any native 
Irish as servants to attend prelates in the Irish Par- 
liament. 2 This statute, like one made at the begin- 
ning of the reign for driving all Irishmen, with a few 
exceptions, out of England, sets forth that the Irish 
are all enemies of the King and his realm. 3 

Finally, the Schism gave a fair occasion for at once 
declaring by statute that, while the vacancy of the 
Apostolic See continued, all dignities requiring papal 
confirmation should be validly holden, if the election 
were confirmed by the Metropolitan within whose 
province the dioceses were situated. 4 

Equally acceptable to the clergy was the conduct 
of Henry with respect to the Council of Constance. 
Indeed his intimate friendship with Sigismund, now 
ripened into an alliance, formed of itself a claim to 
the favour of the Church, to terminate whose scan- 

1 Eot. Pari., iv. 82. 

2 Ibid., iv. 102. 

3 1 Hen. V., c. viii. ; explained by 2 Hen. VI., c. vii. The words 
used are, " shall be voided forth." 

< 3 Hen. V., c. xi., Eot. Pari., iv. 71. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 137 

dalous and perilous Schism that prince had devoted 
all his energies. The choice of the place of meeting, 
so material to the result in a case of this kind, had 
been entirely forced by him upon John XXIII., the 
only one of the three competitors whose election was 
valid. In order to remove this formidable obstacle 
to the operations of the Council, Sigisniund had for- 
gotten that to John he owed the imperial dignity ; 
had sided with France against him in making him 
resign ; had, upon his repenting and escaping, joined 
Frederick of Austria, with whom he took refuge, and 
who betrayed him; had kept him a close prisoner 
while the Council tried him upon charges, of which 
some were wholly fictitious, some wholly irrelevant ; 
and had joined that body in deposing him May 2 g 5 
by a formal sentence, contrary to the law 141 °- 
of the Roman See. So vehement a zeal for the peace 
of the Church recommended Sigisniund, and with him 
his ally of England, to the whole body of the clergy. 
But Henry, by the line which he instructed his am- 
bassador to take at the Council, still further ingra- 
tiated himself with the English hierarchy. A dispute 
arose upon the claims of the English clergy to form a 
separate body or nation with a vote in the deliber- 
ations, the resolution having been taken at the begin- 
ning, to vote not individually but by nations. The 
inclination rather was to insist upon England being 
classed with the northern kingdoms under Germany, 
while Italy, France, and afterwards Spain, were ad- 
mitted to have each a separate voice. But Henry's 



138 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

ambassadors strenuously supported the claim of his 
clergy to a vote, and it was allowed, though, we must 
admit, upon reasoning devoid of all force, and pro- 
ceeding upon the grossest errors of fact; as, that 
Britain consisted of three kingdoms, Ireland of four ; 
that the dominion of Man and the Orkneys was 
equal to, if not greater, than that of France ; and 
that in England there were 52,000 parishes, richly 
endowed, while France had only 6000. 1 

It is impossible to dismiss the subject of this 
famous Council, the most important, except that of 
Trent, ever held in the Catholic Church, without 
noting that, if its labours had the important result of 
terminating the Great Schism by deposing Benedict 
and John, inducing Gregory to resign, and filling the 
Holy See with Martin V., its proceedings were de- 
serving of every reprobation, from the contempt of all 
justice, and even of common humanity, which they 
displayed, The treatment of John was oppressive 
and cruel in the highest degree ; his election to the 
Papacy admitted of no doubt ; and, according to 
the principles of the Romish Church, even if a 
Council had the power of deposing, it could only be 
exercised in the case of heresy, and of heresy he 
never was accused. The charges of immoral conduct 
were no sooner made against him than they were 
abandoned, and his long imprisonment, attended with 
every kind of harshness, could, after his implicit sub- 
mission, have but one motive, the fear of his renewing 

1 L' Enfant, Con. Const. L. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 139 

the claim which his lawful election gave him to the 
pontifical chair, and the desire, if not to wear out his 
life, at least to destroy all remains of energy, the 
distinguishing virtue of his character. 

But the treatment of John was the least part of 
the crimes committed by these cruel and unprincipled 
men. Their rage was still more fiercely pointed to 
the Reformers, impotent against the dead, but effectual 
against the living. Condemning WyclhTe's doctrines 
as heretical, they ordered his remains to be dug up 
from the tomb in which they had reposed at Lut- 
terworth, to be cast into the fire, and the ashes to 
be scattered on the river, with the vain hope of thus 
for ever extirpating all memory of the great Re- 
former. They then summoned his faithful disciple, 
John Huss, to appear before them, and the Emperor 
gave him a safe-conduct, in which he trusted. No 
sooner did he reach Constance, than the Council had 
him seized, denying that the Pope had ever guaranteed 
his safety, but conscious all the while that they never 
would have acknowledged the authority of any com- 
petitor for the Popedom to do any act whatever. He 
was repeatedly required to recant his doctrines, which 
he avowed to be those of Wycliffe, whose books he ac- 
knowledged having read with delight, and with whose 
soul he admitted that he had oftentimes wished his 
own might be. All offers of mercy on such terms he 
rejected firmly but meekly ; and when asked by a 
deputation of the body if he believed himself more 
wise than the whole Council, his memorable reply 



140 HENBY THE FIFTH. 

showed how well he had profited by his master's 
teaching: "For God's sake," said he, "send the 
meanest person in it to convince me by arguments 
out of the Scripture ; to him will I submit my judg- 
ment; much more to the whole Council." — "See," 
said the bishops, " how obstinate he is ! " and they 
left him in his dungeon. Before the assembly itself 
he maintained the same steady course ; and when 
condemned to the flames, only prayed, saying, " Oh, 
my God, out of that infinite mercy of thine which 
no tongue can express, avenge not my wrongs ! " At 
the stake he continued cheerful to the last, and 
rejected the Duke of Bavaria's entreaties that he 
should abjure, declaring that all the doctrines he had 
preached were agreeable to God's word, and that he 
would seal his faith in them with his blood. While 
the crackling of the flames was heard, his voice, also, 
raised in hymns, reached the bystanders, and his 
prayers and praises only ceased when he fell down 
suffocated by the smoke as well as tortured by the 
heat. The duke superintended the bloody work of the 
executioner, who tore the body in pieces, flung the 
fragments upon a newly kindled fire, and thrust the 
heart into it, that it might be the more certainly con- 
sumed. His highness then caused the clothes to be 
burned, and the whole ashes collected to 
be cast into the Rhine, "that nothing might 
remain on earth of so execrable a heretic." * 

The execution of John Huss was followed by that 

1 L'Enfant, Concil. Const., lib. iii. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 141 

of his disciple Jerome of Prague, a younger man, 
and of less authority, of less inflexible courage also, 
but of far superior talents. For a moment his reso- 
lution gave way, and he was prevailed SepL 3> 
upon to abjure the doctrines which he was 141t> - 
accused of having held. This obtained his liberation, 
but on his way to Bohemia the Duke of Bavaria's 
troops seized him upon some new charge, and he was 
brought back to Constance. Repenting of his tem- 
porary weakness, he now appeared before the Coun- 
cil, and defended himself with an eloquence and a 
force of argument which astonished his hearers. 
Among these was the celebrated Poggio Bracciolini, 
of Florence, who does not hesitate to rank his de- 
fence with the masterpieces of ancient rhetoric. Al- 
though exhausted and enfeebled by a year's con- 
finement in a dark and loathsome dungeon, the ad- 
mirable spirit and readiness of his retorts on all 
who assailed him — the learning which he copiously 
poured forth, as if his time had been passed in con- 
sulting all authors — the energy with which he could 
either press home his reasonings, or rouse indignation 
— his versatile skill in moving at will either laughter 
or pity — left on the whole audience a profound impres- 
sion, which was still further deepened by a voice sweet, 
clear, and commanding, as well as by the most grace- 
ful and appropriate action. It is not to be wondered 
at if even his enemies would fain have won him back 
to their Church, and for a while relented, or seemed 
to relent, desirous of once more obtaining from him 



142 HENRY THE FIFTH, 

a disavowal of heresy. How hopeless this was, he 
plainly showed by launching forth in praise of Huss, 
and asserting that, like him, his only quarrel was with 
the abuses of the Church, and the scandal which her 
priesthood brought upon the religion of Christ. Like 
his predecessor and master, he went to the stake 
resigned, and even triumphant, rising superior to the 
torments inflicted upon him, and happy in dying for 
the truth. 1 It would be pleasing could we venture to 
hope that in these barbarous scenes the representa- 
tives of Henry and of the Anglican Church bore no 
part. But the proceedings at Constance were only a 
close imitation of those in London two years before, 
and the sentence was executed on Cobham two years 
after with the same savage cruelty as upon Huss and 
Jerome. 2 There is nothing, therefore, to show that 
the bigotry of priests, when armed with secular power, 
varies in its aspect according to the character of the 
people whom it holds in spiritual subjection. 

The good understanding which, as we have seen, 
subsisted between Henry and the Church, and which 
he took every pains to strengthen, gave him important 
facilities in making his preparations for the campaign 
which he was now resolved upon, beside the benefit of 
the subsidies which he derived from their bountv. The 
influence of the clergy was exerted among the barons 
and other landowners, who were thus encouraged to 

1 Poggii Epist., ad Leon. Aretinum. Ep. Edit. Torullio, I. ii. 

2 Several years before, as early as 1408, a clergyman had been 
burnt in Scotland with equal cruelty for the Wycliffe heresy. Ford. 
Scot. Cr., ii. 441. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 143 

bestir themselves in compliance with the royal pro- 
clamations, calling upon them first to report what 
force each could bring into the field, and then to join 
his standard at Southampton next Midsummer. The 
force collected amounted to above sixteen thousand 
men, fully equipped, of whom one fourth were cavalry, 
and the rest archers, Nearly one half of this body 
were raised and paid by the King himself; the rest 
were brought by the barons, some of whom came at 
the head of four hundred, and one, the Duke of Cla- 
rence, brought no fewer than a thousand men. Several 
thousands more of artificers, squires, and other at- 
tendants accompanied the regular troops ; and the 
whole force is said by several old writers to have ex- 
ceeded twenty-five thousand. To convey this army 
across the Channel, a fleet of fifteen hundred sail was 
assembled at Portsmouth ; and that its operations 
might meet with no obstruction, Henry, before he 
embarked, directed a squadron under Huntingdon to 
scour the narrow seas. This service was well per- 
formed. The admiral met nine of the Genoese ves- 
sels in the pay of France, and after a long and severe 
engagement sunk three and took three, with their 
commander, the bastard of Bourbon, and the money- 
chest of the fleet. As nothing now remained to 
delay the expedition, it set sail for the French 
coast, and the troops were landed at Be- ^ llo . ± 
ville, near Harfleur, without any opposition. 1 14:17 ' 
During the time which the preparation for this 

1 T. Elm., 92. T. Liv., 31. Hoi., iii. 89. Stowe, 353. Note XLII. 



144 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

enterprise occupied, a most important change had 
taken place in the position of French affairs ; and 
that success, which at the beginning of the year must 
have been considered altogether hopeless, seemed now 
brought within the bounds of no very remote possi- 
bility that the design which had been planned and 
prepared as a predatory incursion might now lead 
to the possession of the country, and the occu- 
pation, though precarious and temporary, of its 
throne. The Queen of Charles VI. had ever been one 
of the Burgundian's most determined and powerful 
adversaries, insomuch that he had, during the last 
year, directed a conspiracy, as we have seen, against 
her life. In the spring of 1417 she appears to have 
had some difference with Armagnac, who set the weak 
King against her, and excited his jealousy respecting 
her private conduct, never at any time above reproach. 
One day, in the month of May, Charles, 
' on his way back to Paris, from visiting her 
at the Castle of Vincennes, met a cavalier, one Louis 
Bourdon, going thither, who gave some offence by 
the careless manner of his salutation ; whereupon the 
King ordered the Provost of Paris to seize him. He 
was accordingly first cast into prison, then put to the 
torture, and finally drowned in the Seine. A few 
days after the Dauphin joined Armagnac in seizing 
the Queen's person, and sending her to Tours, where 
she was kept under close watch, and, in fact, as a 
prisoner, though not confined to her apartment. Her 
jewels and her large treasures were likewise taken 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 145 

possession of, and applied to the public service. The 
immediate consequence of these proceedings was a 
reconcilement between her and the Burgundian, and 
a quarrel with his adversaries. Nor does she appear 
to have been ever after possessed with any other 
feeling on public affairs than an insatiable thirst of 
revenge, which she was resolved to slake by the ruin 
of the Constable, of her son the Dauphin, and of his 
kingdom. l 

A few weeks before her seizure the Burgun- 
dian had published in most of the great April 2 4 5 
towns between Paris and his dominions a 1417 * 
manifesto against the Armagnacs, whom he charged 
with holding the King's person in constraint, and 
ruining the country, beside imputing to them the 
murder by poison of the Dauphins Charles and John. 
The suspicion naturally arises that the issuing of this 
proclamation may have been suggested by intelli- 
gence having reached him of the differences which 
had sprung up between the Queen and the Constable. 
That he soon after was in communication with her is 
certain; and at the beginning of August he began 
his operations. By emissaries whom he despatched 
to several important towns, he received their alle- 
giance ; and he immediately after moved a powerful 
army of at least thirty thousand men, 2 by which he 
was enabled to take possession of other strong places, 

1 Monstrelet, ch. clxviii. — clxxix. Juv. des Urs., 336. P. de Fen., 
465. 

2 Monstrelet makes them amount to 60,000 horsemen ; a manifest 



146 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

and to reach Montrouge, within sight of the capital. 
But meeting with no encouragement from the inha- 
bitants, he turned aside, and, after taking several 
more towns, restored the Queen to liberty, made 
another unsuccessful attempt upon Paris, and then 
withdrew with her to Troyes, keeping possession of the 
places which he had seized. She, on her part, issued 
a proclamation declaring herself Eegent of the king- 
dom, suspending the Parliament of Paris, appointing 
two others, one to meet at Amiens and one at 
Troyes, and filling up the highest offices in the 
realm with her own creatures. 

It is manifest that, while the Court of Charles was 
thus distracted by faction, and had to contend with 
so formidable an enemy as the Burgundian in the 
heart of the country, no effectual resistance could be 
offered to Henry's invasion. Upon receiving intel- 
ligence of his preparations, Armagnac had sent such 
troops as he could detach from Paris to garrison 
some of the Norman towns ; but little exertion 
could be expected in the present dreadful state of the 
kingdom, when no man knew whom he should obey 
or whom he could trust. Accordingly, after Henry 
had taken the childish step of challenging the 
Dauphin to decide their differences by single combat, 
and so spare the effusion of blood, 1 — a proposition 
which, as he must have fully expected, was not even 
deemed worthy of any answer, — he proceeded to 
attack the fortified town of Tong, which surrendered 
1 T. Elm., 99. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 147 

without making any defence, 1 and immediately after 
Anvilliers and Villiers followed its example. Caen, 
however, the chief town of the province, having good 
works and a strong garrison, stood a siege of three 
weeks, when it was taken by storm, and the citadel 
soon after capitulated. No mercy was shown to the 
inhabitants in this assault. The butchery was con- 
tinued for some hours, none but women, children, and 
unmarried priests being spared ; and the slaughter 
only ceased in order that prisoners might be made, 
whose ransom formed so important a branch of the 
warlike finance in those days. Nor was the leaving 
women untouched an act of such mercy as at first 
sight it may seem ; for fifteen hundred were driven 
from the place, and English settlers brought over 
in their stead. 

The example made of Caen had a great effect 
upon the people of the neighbouring towns, which 
sent their keys ; and many that had no walls or 
garrison were deserted, insomuch that at Lisieux 
only two persons were found, too infirm to be removed, 
and five-and-twenty thousand families are said to 
have fled before the invaders, taking refuge in Brit- 
tany. The fate of Caen was not the only cause of 
this panic. Before that city fell, the recollection of 
the horrid cruelties and indiscriminate pillage which 
had marked the progress of the English army during 
the former invasion taught the people what they had 
now to expect; and it was not until Henry wisely 

1 Juv. des Ursins, 335. 

L 2 



148 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

enforced a much more strict discipline upon the 
present occasion that by "degrees the alarm subsided. 
Nor was his constant policy of gaining over the 
clergy neglected. All Church property, of whatever 
description, was spared, and even protected. l Nay, 
when it was found at Caen that a chapel stood 
against the part of the walls where a breach could 
with the greatest ease be made, he declined taking 
advantage of that weak pointy lest the sacred edifice 
might be injured. 2 The priests are said to have 
repaid this forbearance by rendering him important 
services against their countrymen. 

As Henry had now beyond expectation the pro- 
spect of possessing Normandy permanently, he issued 
a proclamation, giving all the choice of either freely 
leaving the conquered places, or remaining with 
the full enjoyment of their property and exercise 
of their trade, provided they swore allegiance to 
him as their sovereign. But land and houses seem 
to have been the property chiefly secured by such 
declarations ; for personal effects, though some- 
times mentioned in the articles of capitulation, were 
generally subjected to the prevailing rule of pillage 
when no defence had been made by the troops ; 
and the act of generosity for which Henry is praised 
by contemporary historians is his allowing each sol- 
dier to keep what he had taken. 

The progress of the English arms was now steady, 

if not rapid ; and before the end of the year, Bayeux, 

1 T. Elm., 102. Eym., ix. 491. 2 T. Liv., 37. T. Elm., 105. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 149 

Domfront, and Alen^n had fallen. The important 
town of Falaise, too, had, with its citadel, surren- 
dered after considerable resistance. 

The Dauphin and the Constable, upon the capture 
of Caen, had taken the alarm, and made some 
attempts to obtain peace. They sent an embassy to 
Henry, and offered a safe-conduct to any envoys he 

might send. Their proposition was that 

r r . Oct. 1417. 

he should restore all the conquests made in 

Normandy, and should consent to hold under the 
French King as Sovereign Lord whatever districts 
they might cede to him. But Henry absolutely 
refused to give up any place which he had taken, or 
to yield his rights to any which he claimed. The 
negotiation therefore was speedily broken off; it had 
not interrupted the hostile operations ; and these 
went on favourably to the English. 1 

While Henry was thus engaged in Normandy, the 
Scots made an inroad on his northern border. Reck- 
oning that the expedition to France had left the 
country without troops, they marched one army 
under Douglas to besiege Roxburgh Castle, while 
another under the Regent Albany attacked Ber- 
wick. The Duke of Bedford, however, hastily col- 
lected a considerable force ; -and Exeter, who was in 
England, levying recruits for the King's service, 
marched as many as he had raised. Even the aged 
Archbishop of York collected a large body of men to 
repulse the barbarous invaders, and, being unable 
1 Note XLIII. 



150 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

himself to take the field, was borne on a litter, 
attended by his clergy, arid exhorted the people to 
pray for the Duke's success. So that a powerful army 
hastened to the Scottish border — some 100,000 men, 
as the contemporary historians state with their usual 
exaggeration when they give no particulars. But it 
is certain that the number was sufficient to terrify 
the invaders, who made a sudden and disgraceful 
retreat, were pursued into their own country, and 
lost no time in dispersing. 

This expedition, on which sanguine men had 
fondly built their hopes, imagining probably that, 
beside raising their national character at the expense 
of their rivals, it might lead to the liberation of their 
captive prince, only sank the reputation of the Scot- 
tish arms, and was long after known by the name of 
" The foul raid." l There is no authority for the 
notion taken up by some writers, that it originated 
in any English intrigues, or that its promoters had 
been in communication with the chiefs of the Lol- 
lards. 2 But the Scots, beside the discredit, suffered 
severely for their aggression. As soon as their army 
was disbanded, the Regent Albany asked for a truce ; 
but all offers of accommodation, or even of respite, 
were indignantly rejected by Umfraville, Warden of 
the East Marches. The Scots, he said, were the 
first to break the peace, in the hope that they should 
find England unprepared ; on them, therefore, must fall 
the evils of the war. Accordingly, during two years, the 
1 Fordun, Scot. Chron., ii. 449. * Note XLIV. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 151 

East Border, Tweeddale, Lauderdale, Selkirk, and 
the country as far as Dunbar, were laid waste with fire 
and sword, until Henry granted a truce at the press- 
ing instance of Douglas and Dunbar, who repaired 
to him with the view of staying this severe military 
execution. It may further be noted, that not only 
the Archbishop of York, but the Earl of Northum- 
berland also, actively assisted the King's troops in 
these vindictive proceedings, moved probably to sink 
his personal grudge in his feelings of national hatred 
towards the Scottish borderers. 1 

After Henry's progress in Normandy had been 
successful for above three months, a Parliament was 
called by the Regent Bedford in order to grant further 
supplies. The Bishop of Durham was now Chan- 
cellor, having succeeded the Bishop of Winchester, 
absent in Italy, and he delivered a speech or sermon, 
exhorting his hearers to manful courses and to ply 
the sword against the enemy, the French and Scotch 
especially. Choosing for his text " Comfortamini mi- 
lites; agite, et gloriosi eritis" he took occasion to 
commemorate all the King's successes both in the for- 
mer and in the present campaign ; and his practical 
improvement, as the preachers term it, was that the 
Parliament ought to grant the means of " continuing 
the Sovereign's gracious expedition into foreign parts, 
as well as to provide for the security of the realm, 
both on the northern frontier and on the sea-bord." 

1 T. Liv., 56. T. Wals., 446. T. Elm., 163. Hard., 3S0 ; but 
he makes the " foul raid" happen in 1419. 



152 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

The Parliament did as they were desired, and granted 
a subsidy of two tenths and two fifteenths, to be 
paid in equal moieties at Candlemas next and at the 
Candlemas after that, but with express prohibition 
of advancing in any way the terms of payment. 1 There 
was a parliamentary recognition also made of the 
security by way of mortgage which the King had 
given to the Bishop of Win ton for the loan of 
1400/. The subsidy formerly granted of tonnage 
and poundage had been pledged to the Bishop, and 
the Parliament ratified this security. It appears 
that he had also pledged the Crown with his uncle, 
and had gone to the illegal extremity of alienating it 
to the lender in case of his own decease before the 
money was repaid. 2 An important law was at the 
same time made prohibiting the clergy from appoint- 
ing as collectors of their tenths persons not belonging 
to the several archdeaconries in which the money was 
gathered. This was necessary in order to make the 
transit of the money safe. But a more important pro- 
vision was added giving the aid of common law process 
to enforce the spiritual authority of those collectors. 

This Parliament it was that had the grievous dis- 
credit of ordering Lord Cobham to execution on the 
old sentence for heresy, as we have already seen. An 
act of some violence, though incomparably less im- 
portant and sanctioned by the practice of the age, 
received at the same time a parliamentary recog- 

1 Rot. Pari., 5 Hen. V., 2. 9. (iv. 106), 

2 Rot. Pari., iv. Ill (id. 115). 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 153 

nition. The King had issued his writ commanding 
six barristers, or apprentices of the law, to take upon 
them the degree of Serjeant ; and the Eegent com- 
plained that they had not complied with its exigency. 
They now prayed to have the sentence respited to 
the following Trinity term, promising then to obey, 
and setting forth the grounds of their application for 
delay. The Parliament gave its formal assent by 
statute, placing them at the King's mercy should 
they fail to perform their undertaking. 1 

The supplies granted by Parliament, and the men 
raised by Exeter, amounting by some accounts to 
15,000, were not the only assistance which Henry's 
resources for prosecuting his Norman campaign re- 
ceived about this time. The civil war continued in 
France to desolate and distract the country. During 

the winter and spring the Burgundian's 

. . . , . . . 1417-18. 

intrigues were as active as Ins troops had 
been during the summer and autumn ; and the Queen, 
now a tool in his hands, powerfully seconded his 
efforts to subdue the Government and exhaust its 
means of resisting either himself or the common 
enemy. Armagnac, meanwhile, endeavoured to re- 
gain the towns which the Burgundian had taken, 
and instead of sending troops to oppose the English 
he marched an army to Senlis, the siege of which 
he carried on with a cruelty that added to the gene- 

1 Rot. Pari., 107. There are no statutes on the Stat. Roll as made 
at this Parliament ; bnt nothing can be more formal than the entry in 
the Parliament Roll, that the Regent gave his assent, and the Lords 
heirs, at the prayer of the Commons. Note XLV, 



154 HENEY THE FIFTH. 

ral hatred he was held in. The Burgundian sent a 
force to relieve the place ; and the garrison having 
made a sally to support him, the Constable, enraged 
because they had previously engaged to surrender by 
a certain day, beheaded four of their hostages, caus- 
ing their mangled bodies to be hung up before the 
town. The besieged in revenge put twenty of Ar- 
magnac's people to death. There were constant 
encounters between the contending parties in other 
parts of the kingdom, the lamentable condition of 
which, thus suffering at once the miseries of both 
foreign and intestine warfare, drew the attention of 
Martin V., recently elected by the Council of Con- 
stance, and he sent an embassy to mediate between 
the adverse factions, if possible to reconcile them. A 
long negotiation took place at Montereau ; and when 
terms had been agreed upon, to the unspeakable joy 
of the people, exhausted by the contest, suddenly the 
Constable, with the Chancellor Marie, Tanneguy du 
Chatel, Provost of Paris, and one or two more of his 
partisans, protested against the treaty being concluded, 
stigmatised it as favourable to the Burgundian, and 
prevented the King from signing it. All hopes of 
peace now vanished, and the King's troops were sent 
to recover Montlheri and other towns which had been 
lost the year before. 

The popular feeling against Armagnac had now 
reached its height. To his insolence and his oppres- 
sion was added the grievous offence of maintaining a 
civil war in the heart of the country, and crippling 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 155 

its means of opposing a formidable invasion. Of 
the general indignation thus excited the Burgun- 
dian did not fail to take advantage ■; and at Paris a 
plot was formed by some of the common people, ad- 
herents of that faction, in concert with John de Vil- 
liers, Lord of L'Isle Adam, who had lately gone over 
to them from the Armagnacs. The result was his 
marching in the night a body of 800 picked men, to 
whom the conspirators opened the gate of St. Ger- 
main, having stolen the keys from the keeper while 
he slept. The city was thus surprised ; and May 2 9, 
the assailants, being joined by the populace, 1418 - 
made their way to the palace, seized the King's per- 
son, forced him to ride about with them as if coun- 
tenancing their proceedings, arrested the Armagnac 
chiefs, massacred great numbers of their followers, 
filled the prisons with such as they did not put to 
death, and committed upon the mansions of the 
nobles the usual excesses of popular fury armed with 
a temporary power. Tanneguy du Chatel succeeded 
in carrying off the Dauphin, first to the Bastille and 
then to Melun. Afterwards, collecting & body of 
troops under Marshal de Biez, he made a desperate 
attack upon LTsle Adam in hopes of delivering 
Paris ; but they were repulsed with the loss of be- 
tween three and four hundred men, and, as reinforce- 
ments kept pouring in from Picardy to the assistance 
of the Burgundians, they remained in quiet possession 
of the capital, issuing whatever orders they thought 
fit, and holding the King as a mere tool in their 



156 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

hands. This, however, did not satisfy the multitude. 
On the 1 2th of June they rose in great numbers, and, 
fearing or affecting to fear that the Armagnacs would 
be set at liberty, although all were under the care of a 
Burgundian lately appointed Provost of Paris, they 
broke open the gaols and massacred all the unhappy 
prisoners, without regard to age, or sex, or cause of 
detention, insomuch that individuals of their own 
faction confined for debt perished in the indiscrimi- 
nate slaughter. This horrid carnage lasted from four 
in the afternoon till ten next day. The lowest ac- 
count of the numbers murdered makes them exceed 
1600, while others give a much larger estimate. 
Among them was the Constable himself, whose body 
was subjected to the most barbarous indignities, such as 
cutting the skin in the shape of a St. Andrew's Cross, 
the Burgundian badge. The Chancellor Marie likewise 
perished, and five bishops, with many other persons 
of eminent station. The leaders of the party, LTsle 
Adam, Luxembourg, Chastellux, rode about encourag- 
ing the furious people, and they even had a strong force 
under arms ready to protect them should any dare 
to interrupt the work of death. A few days after 
the thirst of blood again seized these butchers ; the 
houses of all were searched, and a slaughter took 
place both of the Armagnacs who were found and of 
all that were suspected of affording them shelter. 
Between 3000 and 4000 are supposed to have fallen. 
Whoever had a grudge against another, or wished for 
what reason soever to have any person removed out of his 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 157 

way, had only, we are told, to call hiin an Armagnac, 
and his doom was sealed. 1 It is a remarkable fact, 
offering another resemblance of these outrages to the 
popular excesses of later times, that a Swiss corps 
which happened to be at Paris in the pay of the 
Government 2 was nearly destroyed by the multitude. 
Among other particulars of this warfare a striking 
passage has been preserved, illustrating strongly the 
perversion of all moral feelings to which religious and 
factious frenzy may give rise. The same people 
who could witness unmoved the murder and torture 
of thousands in cold blood were unable to endure an 
act of disrespect towards a stone image, and put to 
death with great torments a soldier of their own 
party who had struck at it with his sword when 
reeling drunk from a tavern where he had lost his 
money. 3 

The seizure of Paris was followed by the imme- 
diate surrender of Creil, Laon, Peronne, Corbeil, Sois- 
sons ; and the Burgundian now declared that the time 
was come when he might appear in person to comfort 
his emissaries, put himself at the head of his vic- 
torious party, and exercise the whole powers Jlme 14 
of Government in the unhappy King's name. 1418- 
He accordingly repaired to the capital, accompanied 

1 Juv. desUrs., 351. Fenin., 468. Monstrel., ch. cxci. and cxcviii. 

2 Juv. des Urs., 350. 

3 Mezer., 11. The day, 3rd July, of this incident continued for ages 
to be celebrated by burning a soldier's effigy in the street Eue de l'Ours. 
P. de Fen., 468. Monstrelet, ch. cxc. and cxcviii. Mezer., 11. Juv. 
des Urs., 350. 



158 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

by the Queen ; but he is said to have been much ex- 
asperated at finding that the Constable and the Ar- 
magnac chiefs had been destroyed, as he had hoped by 
obtaining possession of their persons to make his own 
terms with the Dauphin. That prince, acting under 
the advice of Lou vet, President of Provence, Tanne- 
guy du Chatel, and the Viscount Narbonne, had de- 
clared himself Regent, and he now made every effort 
to continue the war. His troops had frequent en- 
gagements with the Burgundians. He took Com- 
piegne and Soissons, and was successful in several 
other affairs. Meanwhile, the curse of pestilence fell 
upon the capital, where 80,000 are supposed to have 
died of it. But even this calamity had not power 
to extinguish the fury of party. Another mas- 
sacre, and chiefly of the prisoners, was perpetrated 
by the mob, led on by Capeluche, the common exe- 
cutioner ; and the Duke, exasperated by the unruly 
conduct of his adherents among the commonalty, was 
under the necessity of sending six thousand, chiefly 
of men who had been engaged in these bloody scenes, 
to serve at the siege of Montlheri, then carrying on. 
During their absence he brought to punishment some 
of the most guilty, including Capeluche himself, and 
thus succeeded in restoring the appearance at least 
of subordination. 

Such was the state of France during the year 
March, 1418, when Henry, encouraged by the sup- 

1418. p 0r {. £ k' s p ar li am ent, and still more by 
the condition of his adversaries, was to prosecute his 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 159 

operations in Normandy. He commenced these by 
a somewhat extraordinary proceeding. Continuing 
his assiduous court to the clergy, and minded also to 
impress the people with an opinion of his extraordi- 
nary piety, he retired to Bayeux, where he kept 
Lent, without allowing even his military pursuits to 
interrupt his devotions during the whole forty days of 
that fast. It appears, however, that he had not the 
same tenderness for the spiritual welfare of his bro- 
thers and the other commanders of his army ; for 
they were directed to carry on the operations of the 
campaign without any regard to the sacredness 
of the season. Clarence, at the head of one half 
the army, * took the direction of the eastern part 
of the duchy, and made himself master of Cham- 
broise, Harcourt, D'Anville ; while Gloucester, with 
the other half, took the towns of the western part 
called the Isle (or Peninsula) of Constantine, Sirez, 
St. Lery, Carentin, Pontdun, St. Samer; and at 
Easter all Lower Normandy except Cherbourg was 
in his possession. 

Works considerable for the age had added to the 
natural strength of this town, defended on one side by 
the sea and the river, and on the others protected from 
attack by the loose sandy texture of the soil, which pre- 
vented the construction of batteries ; and though the 
English had the entire command of the sea, so that they 
could obtain reinforcements and stores, yet they had no 
ships of force enough to batter a fortified place. Glouces- 
ter was therefore obliged to form the siege as well as 



1 60 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

he could, and it lasted nearly six months. In truth, it 
was rather a blockade than a siege, their naval force 
enabling the English to prevent any supplies from 
reaching the town. At one time they were in such 
hazard of being overpowered by a sally of the nu- 
merous garrison, pressed with hunger, that Henry 
directed succours to be sent from the opposite coast ; 
and a fleet of thirty sail accordingly brought 
over two thousand men from the west of 
England. The besieged when they first descried 
these vessels exulted in the hope that they were 
coming to their relief; and when they discovered the 

truth their spirits fell, and the town was sur- 
Sept. 1418. £, 

rendered. The chronicles and state papers 

of the times have preserved no record of the treat- 
ment which it received at the hands of the conquerors ; 
but the former represent the Commandant as having 
ordered the whole of the spacious suburbs to be de- 
stroyed by fire when he saw that he was to be attacked. 
This was indeed necessary in order to deprive the 
assailants of shelter in carrying on the siege ; and it 
is not easy to conceive the misery which it must have 
entailed upon the inhabitants. 1 

While Gloucester was reducing Lower Normandy, 
Henry, at the end of Lent, emerged from the reli- 
gious shades within which he had for so many weeks 
confined himself, and took, after considerable resist- 

1 T. Elm., 147. T. Liv., 51. Monstrelet, ch. clxxxi., says that 
Gascoyne the governor was bribed to surrender, and that Henry, after- 
wards quarrelling with him, caused him to be beheaded. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 161 

ance, several towns in Upper Normandy ; but he sus- 
pended for a while his military operations, in order 
to celebrate at Caen the festival of St. George, the 
guardian saint of England. The towns of Louviers 
and Pont de l'Arche cost him most time ; and it ap- 
pears that the terms on which they surrendered were 
to be protected from pillage, but to have their en- 
gineers (those who had fired upon the English army) 
punished with death as though they had been com- 
mon malefactors. 1 Rouen, the capital of the province, 
alone remained to be subdued ; and before this strong 
place the King sat down, collecting under his own 
immediate command all the troops he could spare 
from his other conquests, reinforced as he had now 
been by the arrival of Exeter's levies. 

But although he had made himself master of all 
the fortified towns, it became manifest to his clear 
and acute understanding that he had anything rather 
than quiet possession of the duchy. His army had 
behaved with distinguished bravery, and had often 
succeeded against superior numbers ; but the French 
too had displayed their wonted gallantry, and plainly 
showed him that he must fight to keep what they 
had made him fight to win. An attempt of the 
French to retake Louviers by surprise, undertaken 
in concert with the inhabitants, had been defeated 
with some difficulty. The Norman gentry raised a 
formidable body of volunteers, whose exploits against 
the invaders were sometimes crowned with victory. 

1 T. Liv., 65. T. Elm., 159. 

M 



162 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

Among these patriotic men, the name of one (Ambrose 
de Lore) has been preserved by history as success- 
fully defending the Castle of Coureiers, and defeating 
the English detachment before it in an important 
sally. Eager on all occasions to meet the enemies of 
his country, he again encountered a body of English 
horse on the banks of the Sar, and overthrew them 
after an obstinate combat, which the Sovereign com- 
memorated by giving him the honour of knighthood. 
Then collecting a larger body of troops, he recovered 
Beaumont and several other places from Henry's 
captains. Having intelligence that Marche, with a 
force of five thousand men, was ravaging the country 
of Maine, in which no regular operations had as yet 
been undertaken by the English, De Lore set upon 
him with an inferior number, killed several hundreds, 
and took many prisoners. Next, this gallant partizan 
directed his troops against an English detachment at 
Leu in Normandy, and, though stoutly resisted, de- 
feated them with great slaughter. The government 
of Fresnoy, which he had recaptured, was conferred 
upon him ; and finding that the neighbouring country 
was suffering from the cruelty and depredations of 
the English garrison in Alencon, he marched out of 
his citadel, attacked the plundering troops near 
Meaux, drove them to seek shelter in Les Nones, a 
village surrounded with water, and there defeated 
them with the loss of three score men left on the 
field. At length this brave man was taken prisoner 
in an action against an English force fourfold superior 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 1 63 

to his own men, who were entirely cut to pieces or 
captured. The attack was made by him upon a 
strong detachment engaged in ravaging Maine ; and 
it must have been successful, but that the Lord 
Beauveau, the Governor of Anjou, with whom the 
operation was combined, shamefully deserted his 
duty, and left the gallant De Lore to engage the 
enemy alone. Indeed no one can doubt that, had 
all the French captains equally performed their parts, 
the English invasion must have failed ; but the want 
of unity and of energy in the central government 
necessarily made itself felt to the extremities of the 
country. All the exertions of its brave inhabitants 
were paralysed by councils feeble and distracted, 
until the seizure of the chief power by the Burgun- 
dian seemed to promise greater energy in the con- 
duct of affairs ; yet could even this advantage avail 
little" when the exigencies of the civil war prevented 
the national force from being employed with any effect 
against the common enemy. 

The apprehension, however, of increased vigour on 
the part of his adversaries, and the rumours generally 
believed that the two parties had been in treaty for 
a junction, appear to have made Henry renew his 
intrigues with the view of maintaining their differ- 
ences, possibly with the hope of gaining one of them 
over to his side. While therefore he prosecuted his 

operations against Rouen, which was now 

■ T t . -, , , . . Aug. 1418. 

closely invested, he opened a negotiation 

with both the Dauphin and the King — that is, the 

m 2 



164 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

Burgundian and the Queen, who ruled in the unfor- 
tunate monarch's name. With the Dauphin the 
treaty appears to have made some progress. War- 
wick, Morgan (appointed Chancellor of Normandy), 
and others on the part of Henry, met the Archbishop 
of Sens and the rest of the French ambassadors at 
Sept. 10, Alencon, where they remained in constant 
1418. negotiation, morning and evening, a whole 
fortnight. 1 There was a preliminary difficulty made 
as to the language in which the conference should be 
carried on and the papers written, the English nego- 
tiators insisting on the Latin tongue being used, be- 
cause the doctors of the English embassy were unac- 
quainted with the French. The course was adopted 
of having a copy of each document in both languages, 
the Latin to be regarded as the original in case of 
any dispute upon the sense. 2 An altercation next 
arose as to which party should bring forward the first 
proposal ; but in the end the French agreed to make 
an offer, and they tendered the cession of very con- 
siderable districts in the south, the Agenois, Perre- 
gueux, the Limousin, Rhodez, Bigorre, Angouleme, 
together with Calais and some other territories in the 
King's possession. They stated that the dominions 
thus offered were greater in extent than the kingdom 
of Arragon or of Navarre. When this proposition 

1 Kym., ix., 632. The protocol is very full, and proves these dates. 

2 Dr. Lingard is mistaken in his statement that this proves the 
ignorance of French among the upper classes in Henry V.'s time (iii. 
366). Henry himself only says, " Doctiores ambassiatse nostras." 
Eym., ix., 656. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. - 165 

was rejected, they added a further part of Guienne, 
and all the duchy of Normandy east of the Seine, 
with the exception of Rouen ; but the English nego- 
tiators having been informed that the Dauphin had 
given instructions to offer Touraine, Anjou, and even 
Artois and Flanders, which implied an alliance with 
him against the Burgundian, from whom these two 
countries must be conquered, they made a demand 
to that effect ; and the intelligence having in all 
likelihood been groundless, they met with a civil but 
direct refusal, the Dauphin's representatives observing 
that their master had not those dominions to give. 1 
On this the English ambassadors took an objection 
to the Dauphin's title — an objection which, it may be 
thought, they should rather have urged at the outset 
than at the close of the negotiation. The Dauphin, 
they said, was not yet King, and had no right to dis- 
pose of the French dominions in his father's lifetime. 
They also adverted to his being only in his sixteenth 
year. Certainly these considerations were urged with 
a bad grace by the very persons who would fain have 
obtained from the same prince a cession of dominions 
which neither belonged to himself nor to his father. 
It is further to be observed that Henry had authorised 
his envoys to engage for his making no alliance or 
treaty with the Burgundian during three months. 
Nevertheless we find him at the same time in corre- 

1 Rym., ix., 642. Juv. des Ursins, 365, gives a flourish as used by 
the Dauphin, that he would not negotiate with the enemies of his 
country to destroy his vassal, whom he hoped to have for his friend,— 
Note XLVI. 



166 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

spondence with the Burgundian himself, beginning to 
Oct. 26, treat with the nominal King — that is, with 

1418.' the Burgundian — and immediately after- 
wards carrying on a negotiation directly with him. 
It came indeed to nothing ; for Henry's demands were 
Dec. 14 almost as unreasonable as before : he would 

1418 - have Guienne, Ponthieu, the hand of Catha- 
rine, and a dower equal to a million of our money. 
The Burgundian naturally enough dreaded the entire 
ruin of his character with the country should he listen 
to such a demand : it was rejected accordingly, and 
Henry had recourse to his former cavil when much 
smaller sacrifices of territory were offered. He said 
the King, without the Dauphin's concurrence, could 
not effectually treat, and that it did not become a 
Duke of Burgundy to alienate the possessions of the 
French Crown. 1 

It is extremely probable that in all these negotia- 
tions both parties were acting with equal bad faith, 
Henry to divide his two enemies, and each of them 
to prevent his joining with the other ; but it is also 
possible that if the terms which either of them 
endeavoured to obtain from his adversary in this 
diplomatic game had been so advantageous beyond 
his hopes as offered a temptation to close with him, 
the desire of peace, expressed or affected, might have 
forthwith become sincere, and the negotiation proved 
successful. 

The conferences of the envoys at Alencon and 

1 Monstrelet, ch. cxcviii. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 167 

Pont de l'Arche had not interrupted the operations 
of the army before Rouen. These proceeded with 
great perseverance ; and like all sieges in those days, 
when gunnery was in its infancy, consisted chiefly 
in cutting off the supplies from the inhabitants, and 
in occasional skirmishes, sometimes single combats, 
between the soldiers of the contending armies. The 
place was strong, both by its position on the Seine 
and by its works ; the garrison was numerous, 
amounting to four thousand well disciplined troops, 
under experienced officers ; the inhabitants had besides 
armed four times as many of their own body to 
defend the town. An obstinate resistance might 
therefore be expected ; and accordingly a haughty 
answer was given to Henry's summons, which he had 
accompanied with a threat of all extremities should 
they hold out. "It was not," the commanders said, 
"the King of England who had committed the place 
to their care ; nor should he obtain any part of it but 
what he won by his arms." 

As the blockade continued, the sufferings of the 
wretched inhabitants became truly deplorable. Their 
numbers are probably exaggerated by contemporary 
writers, but they must have greatly exceeded a hun- 
dred thousand •; for beside the townspeople, many had 
taken refuge within the walls when driven from other 
places, and bringing their property with them for 
protection against the depredations of the English 
troops. The siege too began just before the harvest, 
so that there was less than the ordinary supply of 



168 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

provisions. One of the first precautions taken by the 
commandant, Guy le Bouteilher, was to send twenty 
thousand destitute persons out of the town ; l many 
women and children were thus thrown upon the 
enemy's hands ; but Henry directed his troops to send 
among them a shower of arrows, the bows slightly 
drawn, in order rather to frighten them back into the 
town than to hurt them. The miserable creatures, 
as might easily have been foreseen, were unable to 
regain the place, and took shelter in the ditches, 
where they remained for days in the utmost distress, 
many of the women being actually taken in labour 
while thus exposed. It is said that the groans of this 
wretched multitude at length moved both the assail- 
ants and the garrison, so as to obtain from the former 
a supply of food, and from the latter leave to return. 
The sufferings of the people in the town were truly 
dreadful. Every animal, how disgusting soever, that 
could be eaten, was devoured ; not horses alone, and 
asses, but dogs, cats, rats, mice. But of these the 
supply was necessarily limited, and all kinds of skins 
and leather were greedily seized on in the vain hope 
that nourishment might be extracted from them. 
Thus the pangs of hunger were soon exchanged for 
those of sickness, the constant follower in the train of 
famine ; and contemporary historians paint in the 
most dismal colours the wretchedness which now pre- 
vailed; the air filled with howling and groans, the 
houses and streets with the dead and the dying; 

1 Much greater numbers are given in some accounts. 



HENEY THE FIFTH. 169 

robust men prostrate, as if paralysed 5 women frantic 
from the unhappy fate of their offspring*, infants 
clinging to the breasts of mothers already dead ; 
maidens prostituting themselves for a morsel of 
bread ; and other scenes not to be commemorated 
lest disgust should be mingled with pity. Nor was 
it the least of the evils which fell upon this unhappy 
city, that the law lost all its force, and whether mad- 
dened with hunger or with passions of a more guilty 
origin, the common people regarded no rights of 
person or of property as sacred. For five long 
months did this misery endure, and above thirty 
thousand were cut off beside those who perished by 
the sword. T 

The courage of the besieged was of the very 
highest order and of every kind. No opportunity 
was left unimproved of engaging the enemy when it 
was possible to sally forth and combat. But the 
more rare and more difficult virtue of fortitude also 
shone conspicuous. When Henry, reckoning upon 
the effects of their unparalleled sufferings, intimated 
that he would grant no terms, and required them to 
surrender at discretion, they with one voice refused, 
and desired that their agonies might continue, pre- 
ferring to sink under hunger and pestilence rather 
than trust to the mercy of one quite capable of deli- 
vering them over to the executioner. To one of 
their deputations he gave for answer that they 

1 T. Liv., 68. T. Elm., 196. Monstrelet, ch. cci. He says 50,000 
perished. 



170 HENKY THE FIFTH. 

deserved their fate, because by their resistance they 
flew in the face of Heaven, which had plainly decided 
in his favour by the victories he had been allowed to 
gain. l To another he complained bitterly of a pre- 
late who had preached against him, and on whom he 
vowed he should be revenged; nor was his vow 
broken. The garrison, thus treated and thus threat- 
ened, resolved to make one great and last effort, as 
every application at Paris for help was met with the 
statement that the civil war required all the troops 
which could keep the field. They determined to 
undermine the wall for many yards, and to prop it 
with timber, which being set on fire, and bringing 
down the stones, would leave a large gap, by which 
their whole armed force might rush, and in a compact 
body cut its way through the besieging army, trusting 
to chance for the saving of their wretched lives. 
The rumour of this desperate but formidable design 
reached Henry, and he allowed them to capitulate, 
though upon terms very different from those which 
Jan. 19 their gallant defence deserved. 2 All pro- 
1419. perty was to be safe, provided the owner 
swore allegiance to England. The persons and pos- 
sessions of those who refused were to be at the King's 
mercy. A sum of nearly half a million was to be 
paid ; one moiety within ten days, the remainder in 
five weeks. The whole personal property, to the 
very ornaments of their uniforms, was to be taken 

1 T. Liv., 69. 

2 Rym., ix. 664. Monstrelet, eh. ccii. Juv. des Urs., 357. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 171 

from the brave garrison ; and this cruel and insulting 
stipulation was so rigorously enforced, that the officers 
were stripped as they marched out ; and hence those 
who came behind and witnessed this outrage, cast 
into the river such things as they could not conceal 
about their persons. Finally seven individuals were 
exempted from the amnesty granted. One of them, 
the leader of the Commons, Allan Blanche, Henry 
caused to be beheaded immediately after the sur- 
render ; another, the prelate, of whom mention has 
been made, ended his days in a dark and loathsome 
dungeon. The payment of ransom enabled the rest 
to escape with their lives. * 

When Henry entered the town, with a splendour 
and a pomp which formed a mighty contrast to the 
condition of his miserable conquest, he first of all 
proceeded to the cathedral, and kneeling at the great 
altar, commanded the priests to sing a Te Deum for 
his success. It is unnecessary to inquire what must 
have been the effect of this pious scene upon the 
unhappy people, the victims of his sordid and blood- 
thirsty ambition, when now they beheld him profaning 
their church and insulting its pastors by his orders to 
thank heaven for the unexampled sufferings he had 
been permitted to inflict upon themselves and their 
native land ! 

The operations of the siege had not obtained for 
the surrounding country any respite from the inex- 
orable system of depredation which Henry connived 

1 Monstrelet, ch. ceii. 



172 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

at, — certainly never exerted himself to check. The 
whole neighbouring districts, and even Brittany and 
the Isle of France, were ravaged by parties of plun- 
derers, whose cruelties kept pace with their insatiable 
thirst of spoil. The sordid exploits in this kind of 
one body of his troops are much dwelt upon by the 
writers of that age. It was a multitude, ill-clothed, 
worse armed, wholly undisciplined, of wild Irish, to 
the number of some thousands. These savages had 
only one shoe and stocking, the other leg was bare ; 
a target and strange kind of knife was all their 
armour; some few only were mounted, and rode 
without any saddle. They were the terror of the 
country, for they rifled whatever place they entered, 
and carried off men and women, and even children 
in their cradles, placing them on the backs of 
cows which they had stolen, and selling them for 
slaves. l 

The capture of Rouen was followed by the fall of 
Fecamp, Caudebec, Mantes, and about forty other 
towns ; and the terror struck into the kingdom, Brit- 
tany and Isle de France as well as Normandy, by 
the ravages of the English troops, appears to have 
at length awakened in the chiefs of the contending 
factions which divided the government *some feel- 
ings, if not of compassion for their country or re- 
morse for the miseries they had brought upon it, 
at least of apprehension that the power they were 
contending for might speedily be wrested from both 

1 Monstrelet, ch. cxcvi. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 173 

Burgundian and Arinagnac by their common enemy. 
Each party, however, first attempted to renew the 
negotiation with Henry in the hope of 
finally by his aid defeating its rival. The 
Dauphin's ambassadors were assured by Henry that 
he only desired to have the sovereignty of all he had 
now conquered, and all that the Peace of Bretigny l 
had secured to Edward III., and he asked a personal 
interview with their master, which was agreed to ; but 
that Prince feeling it impossible to take this basis for 
the negotiation never came to Dreux, the place ap- 
pointed for the meeting. The Burgundian then pro- 
posed to treat, and English ambassadors were sent to 
him at Provins, where at that time the King, his 
tool and pageant, held his court. But the Dauphin's 
troops set upon them on their way thither, Feb 2 6 
and were repulsed with great loss by the 1419 - 
united English and Burgundian guard. An agree- 
ment was then come to that the parties should meet 
in person, and accordingly Henry and his court met 
the Burgundian, accompanied by the Queen and 
the Princess Catherine, at Meulan on the 

o • mi • ii • i n i Ma y> 1419 - 

JSeine. 1 he meeting took place with all the 
pomp and magnificence usual in that age on such 
occasions. The French King's melancholy illness 
being then sorely upon him, prevented him from ap- 
pearing ; but his beautiful daughter is said to have 

1 Called the Great Peace : it gave England in absolute sovereignty 
and also in fief Guienne and Poitou in the south, Calais, Guisnes, and 
Ponthieu in the north ; all these had long since been reconquered by 
France. 



174 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

made a tender impression upon the English monarch, 
insomuch that the Queen-mother, with the calculating 
and sanguine spirit of her sex, hoped for better terms. 
In this, however, she was disappointed, for he in- 
sisted upon the Peace of Bretigny, the independent 
sovereignty of all his recent conquests, as well as 
the Princess's hand, and he refused to give up his 
claim to the crown itself, which had been abandoned 
by Edward III. at that peace. The listening to such 
terms as these the Burgundian, like the Dauphin, 
felt would be his destruction with the people of 
France, and Henry lost his temper on meeting a 
spirit as high as his own. "Know, fair cousin," said 
he, " that we will have the daughter of your King, 
and all else we have asked, or we will drive him and 
you out of his kingdom." To this unseemly threat 
the reply was immediate, and it was calm as well as 
firm: "Sire, you are pleased to say so; but before 
you can do so, I make no doubt that you will be 
heartily tired." l 
July 11, This negotiation being thus at an end, 
1419. another was set on foot between the Bur- 
gundian and the Dauphin. They met at Melun, 
and in a week concluded a treaty by which it was 
agreed that all former differences should be buried 
in oblivion ; that the Duke should honour and obey 
the Dauphin next after the King ; that the admini- 
stration of the government should be carried on by 
them jointly ; and that both parties with their ad- 

1 Monstrelet, ch. ccvii. Mez., i. 1022. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 175 

herents should unite in pursuing the most rigorous 
measures for reforming ail abuses at home, and for 
defending the realm against "the damnable Jllly 2 o 
enterprize of the English." 1 To this im- 1419, 
portant instrument were affixed, beside the names of 
the two chiefs, those also of the other Princes, of the 
Prelates, and of the magistrates of different towns. It 
was brought to Paris with much solemnity by the 
Archbishop of Sens, and with letters from the Dau- 
phin and the Duke, as well as an edict of the King, 
was read in full Parliament, the members of which 
were sworn to its observance. The peace was then 
proclaimed with a general amnesty, a procession was 
made to the church of St. Martin des Champs, and 
thanks were returned for this happy consummation. 
The Dauphin and the Burgundian proceeded imme- 
diately to withdraw their forces from whatever posts 
they held hostilely to each other, or they only kept 
garrisons in towns exposed to the English ; while 
each appointed such commanders and such governors 
of different places as were acceptable to both parties. 
The joy diffused by this auspicious event was gene- 
ral ; it was lively, too, in proportion to the distressing 
evils which the civil broils had brought upon the 
country, and to the grievous inconvenience which the 
people had so long endured in the management of 

1 Eym., ix. 770. Monstrelet, ch. ccvii. Juv. des Urs., 367. He 
represents the Burgundian and Queen as having acceded outwardly, in 
the conference at Meulan, to Henry's terms, but resolved to make 
demands which they knew he would not agree to. He also represent 
the treaty of Melun as never having been quite finished. 



176 HENKY THE FIFTH. 

their ordinary concerns even in districts exempt from 
the immediate pressure of the war. 

It must be confessed that this change in the re- 
lative position of his adversaries was calculated to 
effect a great revolution in Henry's prospects, and it 
appears manifest that he owed the perils by which he 
was now surrounded altogether to his own headstrong 
violence. Those perils, notwithstanding his suc- 
cesses, were of the most formidable magnitude. His 
occupation of the Norman Duchy was confined 
entirely to the ground held by his troops. On the 
part of the inhabitants, no indication whatever had 
appeared of a disposition to submit, and receive him 
for their sovereign. Terror subdued for the moment 
the common people who could not quit their towns and 
villages, or the peasantry who were attached to the 
soil ; and many who at first had fled were induced 
by the sufferings of an exiled or a wandering life to 
return when the conqueror promised them protection. 
But the submission thus rendered was by compulsion ; 
and so many, especially of the artificers and other 
crafts, remained permanently in those parts of the 
country whither they had fled, that some of the most 
flourishing towns in Brittany and the well known 
fabrics of the province trace their origin to this in- 
vasion. On the other hand, no person of mark, no 
nobles, or knights, or considerable landowners of any 
rank yielded even an outward obedience, much less 
did any of that class take the invader's part. They 
almost all continued in the neighbouring province, 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 177 

insomuch that its historians consider most of the 
Breton families to have been originally Norman. 1 
Henry in vain appealed to the Normans as the an- 
cient subjects of his crown. Such language was 
wholly unintelligible to the inhabitants of a territory 
which had for two centuries been severed from the 
English dominions, and which had long since been 
reclaimed from the national prejudice once so pre- 
valent against France during the accidental connexion 
of the Duchy with England. The only person of 
any distinction who is recorded as having sworn al- 
legiance to Henry is Guy le Bouteillier ; and although 
this was in all likelihood only the result of a desire to 
retain his extensive possessions, it stamped him with 
infamy among his countrymen, and gave birth to a 
conviction in their minds, unsupported by proof and 
at variance with the well known history of the siege, 
that he had betrayed his trust while Commandant of 
Rouen at the surrender of the town. The failure of 
a sortie by the props of the bridge being secretly 
sawed through was universally imputed to his treachery, 
no man doubting that they had been cut by his or- 
ders. All Henry's measures for consolidating his 
dominion and for gaining over the Normans, though 
not ill combined, had failed, because coupled with 
acts of a conquering power. The establishment of 
courts and chambers of accounts in the greater towns, 
and the appointment of able captains as their gover- 
nors, had been accompanied with grants of the lands 

1 B. d'Argentine's Hist, de Bretagne, torn. ii. p. 17. 

N 



178 HENRY THE FIFTH, 

forfeited by the proprietors who refused to hold 
them under England, and the new government was 
thus rendered hateful in each place. The procla- 
mation offering those who had fled permission to 
retain their property was coupled with the condition 
of their doing homage to the conqueror; so that 
many refused such terms, preferring confiscation, and 
those who accepted them were reduced rather to 
silence than subjection. Even the lowering of an 
oppressive tax, the gabelle, or duty on salt, had been 
found to afford little relief; for an impost equal to 
a fourth of the value was retained, and the exclu- 
sive power of selling the article was vested in public 
functionaries whose malversations had been described 
in the edict as the principal part of the burthen, and 
assigned as the ground of the reduction. 1 The neces- 
sities of the war, too, had made Henry during the 
next year add to this duty. Then, although he suc- 
ceeded in making a truce with the Duke of Brittany, 
which relieved him from some apprehension on that 
side, yet in Gascon y he was threatened with an un- 
expected attack from the Spaniards, whose fleet 
scoured those seas, and who were preparing to besiege 
Bayonne. 2 A large force was also destined by the 
Castilian Monarch to aid the Dauphin, whose cause 
he warmly espoused ; and troops from Scotland were 
daily expected to join that prince, under Buchan, a 
skilful and experienced commander. 

While all Henry's attempts failed to obtain succours 

1 Rym., ix. 584. 2 lb., ix. 793. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 179 

from his dominions in the south of France, in England 
a growing discontent with the duration of the war 
prevented him from calling a Parliament during the 
whole of the year 1418, and until the latter end of 
the following year. He constantly urged Bedford to 
send him recruits, stating that his army was greatly 
weakened both by losses in the field and by the 
number of men which he was obliged to leave in the 
conquered towns. The Regent's exertions, however, 
though backed by the King's own letter and procla- 
mations addressed both to the counties and March, 
to individuals, failed to produce the desired 1419. 
effect ; for the answer generally given was that the 
able-bodied men were almost all serving in the army 
already. In this state of things he all of a sudden 
found the main source of his past successes cut off 
by the unexpected reconcilement of the Burgundians 
and Armagnacs, and saw that he had now to en- 
counter the united force of the monarchy in the field, 
as well as the rage of the people whom he had in- 
vaded and oppressed, but not enslaved. He had 
every reason, indeed, to expect that as soon as a 
formidable army took the field against him, the in- 
habitants would rise in his rear and cut off his 
retreat. Already he had experienced their dispo- 
sition to revolt against his garrisons in the principal 
towns ; and a conspiracy of the people of Rouen to 
deliver up the place to the Burgundians had only 
been defeated by the governor, Guy le Bouteillier, to 
whom the ringleaders confided their design, but who 

n 2 



180 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

denounced them to Henry, and had them put to 
death. 

In this situation of complicated difficulty, his wonted 
courage and decision did not forsake him. Pressing 
forward, in order to make a great impression before the 
newly formed alliance of his adversaries should have 
time to be consolidated and produce a cordial co-opera- 
July 31, ti° n > ne marched a strong detachment to Pon- 
14:19 - toise, a fortified place, about nineteen miles 
from the capital, and left under the command of LTsle 
Adam: he was taken by surprise, and fled with his 
garrison and the wealthy inhabitants through the 
gate leading to Paris, as the English entered by the 
opposite gate. They thus obtained possession of the 
town, which they gave up to pillage. The riches 
which it contained, from the number of persons who 
had taken refuge within its walls, were in great part 
removed on the first alarm being given that the 
English were entering ; but such was the insubordi- 
nation which prevailed in the country, that the fugi- 
tives, who directed their steps towards Beauvais, 
were met and rifled on the way by some of the pre- 
datory bands which since the commencement of the 
civil war infested all parts of France. Upon the 
capture of this place, Clarence was sent to attack 
Gisors, and before it surrendered he marched his 
troops close to the walls of Paris, ravaging all the 
districts in the neighbourhood. The fall of Pontoise 
and the bold movement of Clarence threw the 
Parisians into such consternation that no troops were 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 181 

marched out to chastise the bravado of the English, 
although they remained two days under the walls. 
The Burgundian, too, perceiving that the capital was 
not secure from a surprise, deemed it prudent to 
remove the court, and he established it at Troyes. 
Meanwhile Henry sustained a reverse by the Dau- 
phin's troops retaking Avranches and Pontorson. 
But an event now happened, wholly miexpected, 
which at once extricated him from all his difficulties, 
and not only gave a new aspect to the state of his 
affairs, but a new complexion to his whole enter- 
prise. 

Whether the reconcilement of the Dauphin and 
the Burgundian had from the first been insincere, or 
that, as oftentimes happens, their followers, especially 
the favourites, retained their former animosities, or 
that some jealousy of the more able and eminent 
individual, heightened probably by his not having 
found it easy to lay aside the habit of command, 
arose in the mind of the inferior party, certain it is 
that some differences were perceivable soon after the 
treaty of Melun, and seemed likely enough to obstruct 
the complete execution of its provisions. A meeting 
of the two chiefs was strongly recommended by the 
Dauphin's counsellors, upon the plausible pretext of 
improving their amicable dispositions, and concerting 
measures against the English. He was then at Mon- 
tereau, on the junction of the Yonne and Seine, 1 with 

1 It is called Monterean-faut- Yonne, formerly " oii-faut- Yonne ;" 
that is, Montereau where the Yonne fails or is lost in the Seine. 



182 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

Jean Louvet, President of Provence, and Tanneguy 
du Chastel, his chief advisers, as we have seen ; and 
he had a large army with him also. It was proposed 
that the Burgundian should repair thither, and occupy 
the castle, which was made ready for his reception ; 
but he was extremely unwilling to quit Troyes, and 
proposed that the Dauphin should rather go there, 
to visit the King and Queen. This correspondence 
was carried on by Tanneguy. He had been one of 
the Dauphin's most zealous adherents, and hitherto 
the implacable enemy of the Duke. With him, never- 
theless, he found means to prevail so far that he set out 
attended by a few hundred men, and arrived at Bray- 
sur-Seine. Here his misgivings returned, 

Sept. 1419. , , „ i". - i -r i 

and he would proceed no farther. It hap- 
pened unfortunately for him that his chief counsellor, 
the Bishop of Langres, had a brother in the Dauphin's 
service, the Bishop of Valence, who was despatched 
to make his relative join in the general solicitation ; 
but without female influence the united efforts of the 
two prelates would probably have failed. Nor was 
this wanting. Madame de Giac, whose husband was 
one of the Duke's counsellors, enjoyed in a peculiar 
maimer his favour. She had been a zealous promoter 
of the treaty at Melun, and now exerting her pow- 
erful influence to promote the desired interview, she 
succeeded in lulling all suspicions. A Jew, one of 
the Burgundian's retainers, earnestly besought him 
not to go, predicting that if he went he never would 
return ; but this warning was disregarded, and he 



HENEY THE FIFTH. 183 

rode on with his suite. 1 When he came near to 
Montereau, he was met by three of his adherents 
who had left the place to warn him that there were 
barriers erected on the spot appointed for the con- 
ference, and that their position gave the Dauphin's 
party a manifest advantage. A council was now 
held, and a circumstance so pregnant with suspicion 
created a great division of opinion, some strongly 
dissuading the step, others declaring in favour of it, 
on the conviction that any treachery was wholly 
impossible. To the latter class the lady gave her 
support, and their sentiments were in harmony with 
the undaunted nature of the man who shrunk from 
the imputation of holding back through fear — pro- 
bably, too, from the responsibility sure to be cast 
upon him of having revived the quarrel so lately 
appeased. Thus he went forward, and took posses- 
sion of his apartments in the castle, with a moderate 
body-guard, posting the rest of his men at the gate 
leading to the town. 

He had not arrived many minutes when Tanneguy 
du Chastel came to say that the Dauphin expected 
him ; and he walked, accompanied by ten only of his 
suite, towards the bridge, upon which an inclosure, 
formed by a double barrier, was erected as the place 
of meeting. Arrived at the first barrier, he was met 
by some of the Dauphin's people sent to hasten his 
approach, by telling him their lord was kept waiting. 
Again he had misgivings, as well he might, if all 

1 Charles- is said to liave had 20,000 with him ; Jean only 700. 



184 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

these things are correctly represented ; and he asked 
his attendants if they thought him safe. They said 
they were willing to run the same risk, and felt it to 
be nothing. He bade them keep close by him ; he 
entered the first barrier. Again he was met by mes- 
sengers who begged him to make haste, for the Dau- 
phin was waiting. "I am going to him," said he, 
and with his suite entered the second barrier, which 
was immediately closed and locked by the sentinels. 
Here he met Tanneguy, and probably from a lurking 
suspicion and the consequent wish to make treachery 
more difficult, placing his hand on the man's shoulder 
he said, "Here is he in whom I put my trust." 
Passing on he came near the Dauphin, whom he 
found outside the barrier on his own side, and lean- 
ing on it, completely armed. The Duke dropped on 
one knee, respectfully saluting him, but he only met 
reproaches in bitter terms, charging him with neither 
withdrawing his garrisons, nor attacking the English 
according to the treaty. He was still on one knee, 
when Loire, an Armagnac knight, tauntingly bade 
him rise from a posture unbecoming so great a lord. 
The Duke saw now that he was betrayed, and moved 
his hand to his sword, which had got entangled be- 
hind him. " What I" cried Loire, " do you draw in 
the Dauphin's presence ?" Tanneguy now advanced, 
gave the signal to his accomplices by exclaiming, " It 
is the time !" and struck the Duke so violently in the 
face with his battle-axe that he was felled down, and 
part of his chin was cut off. He started on his legs, 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 185 

but before he could draw his sword the assassins 
despatched him, and repeated their blows after he 
was dead. Barnard de Navailles attempted to resist, 
and wrested the dagger from the hand of the Yiscount 
de Narbonne, who had been set to watch him ; but he 
was immediately killed by the rest. Of the other 
Burgundians who had followed their lord to the 
bridge, three were wounded in attempting to resist, 
one escaped, and the rest were made prisoners. The 
Dauphin is said to have looked on while this bloody 
scene was enacted as one much alarmed ; and while 
the scuffle yet continued, he was conducted to his 
lodgings by the President Louvet and the rest of his 
counsellors. 1 

Alarmed in truth he well might be ; for never was 
a deed perpetrated the absolute folly of which, at 
least equal to its guilt, was so certain to bring con- 
dign punishment upon its contrivers, always supposing 
they were personages who had an interest in the 
safety of their country. Nor is this a judgment pro- 
nounced after the event. No one could possibly doubt 
that the murder of the Burgundian at once placed an 
insuperable bar in the way of reconcilement between 
the two parties which divided France. No one could 
deny that the distractions thus inevitably continued 
must speedily throw the State into the hands of the 
common enemy, and whichever of the two factions 
he chose to join. That the cutting off the powerful 
leader of the Bourguignons should either destroy 

1 Monstrelet, ccxii. Mez. 3 ii. 1023, 



186 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

them, or force them, for want of a head, to acknow- 
ledge the dominion of their chiefs assassin, was a 
supposition so contrary to all experience of human 
nature as to be wholly absurd, even if the fact were 
not well known that the heir of his name and his 
dominions had already distinguished himself, and 
proved his possessing a capacity for command. That 
he should allow any romantic sense of duty towards 
the State to master the natural feelings of revenge 
against his father's murderers was as little to be ex- 
pected ; and, indeed, in those times it is very likely 
that the approval of the world would rather have been 
withheld from a patriotic than from a vindictive 
course of action. Hence all men at once perceived 
what the few patriots then to be found in France de- 
plored, the inevitable ruin of the country, the de- 
struction of the Armagnacs by defeat, of the Bour- 
guignons by treason, while the deplorable catastrophe 
that impended was not likely even to benefit perma- 
nently the party certain to gain by it in the first in- 
stance ; for in the end England, next after France, 
was sure to be the greatest sufferer. 

It is not easy to suppose that the Dauphin should 
himself have been blind to what the most cursory 
reflection rendered so manifest ; and therefore it is 
exceedingly difficult to believe that he could have 
been a willing party to the murder. Although he 
had not then, any more than he did for many years 
after, exerted his eminent natural abilities, yet he 
possessed them ; and he must have seen the perils by 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 187 

which he would be surrounded, whether a plot against 
the Burgundian's life succeeded or failed. That it 
should have originated with him, then, is in the highest 
degree improbable. On the other hand, the whole trans- 
action bears the mark of so much preparation, and his 
passive demeanour during its progress is so inconsistent 
with the supposition of his entire ignorance, that in 
the absence of all positive evidence we are almost un- 
avoidably led to believe, not that he was a party to 
the formation of the plan, but that he acquiesced in 
its execution. To this inference we are further guided 
by several obvious considerations beside those which 
have been mentioned. He had hitherto been in the 
hands of the Armagnac chiefs, first of the Court, 
then of Louvet, and always of Tanneguy du Chastel, 
a man of great courage, of no scruples, of imperious 
temper. For the Burgundian he had from his in- 
fancy been brought up to entertain the utmost aver- 
sion, and his hatred was largely mingled with fear. 
Towards his mother, of late closely allied with the 
Duke, he had the strong feeling of dislike which a 
consciousness of having done a wrong ever inspires, 
but never so strongly as when the victim of our mal- 
treatment stands in the near relation of friendship or 
of blood. A mind thus prepared at once by in- 
experience and by passion might easily receive im- 
pressions from more powerful and more practised 
natures ; and they probably did not find it difficult to 
persuade the Dauphin that the removal of his rival 
would take out of his way the only obstacle to his 



188 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

regaining the ascendant, of which the Constable's 
death had deprived the party, while they disguised 
the enormity of the act by the sophistry that it was 
retaliating upon the Bourguignons the blow which 
their murder of Orleans, the Dauphin's uncle, had 
inflicted upon the Armagnacs. 

The probability, no doubt, is that the plot origin- 
ated with the more violent leaders of the party, those 
attached to Orleans. Tanneguy had stood high in 
his favour, holding by his appointment the place of 
Provost of Paris ; Narbonne, Loire, Bataille, had 
been in his service, the latter present at his assassi- 
nation ; and some accounts describe him as having, 
when he struck the Duke, taunted him with the 
murder of his master — " You cut off his hand, and I 
will cut off yours." 1 The vehemence of Tanneguy 's 
hatred to the Burgundian, as well as of his zeal for 
Orleans, is recorded by all writers ; and it seems 
impossible to avoid joining in the belief which has 
ever since generally prevailed, that he was the ring- 
leader in the conspiracy, as well as the most promi- 
nent actor in its execution. 

No sooner was the Duke despatched than his fol- 
lowers, who during the affray had shut themselves 
up in the castle, were summoned to surrender, and 
refused unless terms were granted. An attempt was 
then made to gain them over ; they were promised a 
share in the offices of state under the Dauphin, but 
this they all rejected with indignation ; and as soon 

1 Juv. cles Urs., 373. 



HENKY THE FIFTH. 189 

as they were certain they could retire in safety, they 
marched out, none remaining with the other party, 
except Giac and one Jossequin, a man raised from the 
lowest rank by the Burgundian's favour. These, with 
the wife of the former, naturally enough feared to 
accompany the rest ; for there can be no doubt that 
they had been accomplices in the murder. An act 
of singular meanness was added to the more atrocious 
parts of this tragedy ; the Duke's property, which he 
had brought to Montereau, consisting probably of 
money and jewels, was seized by the Dauphin as if it 
had been spoil taken in war. 1 

That Prince and his advisers now found it neces- 
sary to make a public defence of their conduct. 
Letters were addressed by him or in his name to 
Paris and the other great towns, throwing the blame 
upon the Burgundian, who was charged with having 
used unbecoming language and drawn his sword 
against the Dauphin, and was represented as having 
been " put to death on the spot for his mad conduct." 
No credit whatever was given to this story. Mon- 
tague, one of the Burgundian lords, on his return to 
Bray-sur-Seine, despatched to various places a full 
account of what had passed, accusing the Dauphin 
and his adherents of the murder ; but even without 
a formal contradiction, their statement was univer- 
sally disbelieved, and the only difference in this 
respect between the two parties which divided the 
country was, that the Armagnacs excused their chief 
1 NoteXLYII. 



190 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

as having been a passive instrument in the hands of 
others, while the Burgundians regarded him as one 
of the conspirators, if not their leader. 

The consternation and the horror which seized the 
whole people as soon as the affair of Montereau was 
made known may easily be conceived. Men's minds 
in these times had become accustomed to the most 
sanguinary catastrophes, so that deeds of mere cruelty 
did not very powerfully excite their feelings ; but the 
spirit of the age made acts of treachery be regarded 
with peculiar aversion ; and the assassination of a 
great chief while attending a conference with the 
ally who had plighted his faith by the most solemn 
oaths upon the Eucharist itself, outraged every feeling 
of honour, all sense of religion. The general repro- 
bation which was called forth wrought an incalculable 
injury to the cause and to the character of the 
Dauphin. The allowance which calmer judges were 
after a while disposed to make for his youth, and in 
consideration of the influence exercised over him by 
his imperious counsellors, was at first wholly withheld 
even by the bulk of his own party. But it was at 
Paris, so devoted to his adversaries, that the public 
indignation most vehemently broke forth ; and the 
desire of revenging their leader's death instantly 
filled all men's minds, denying access to every counsel 
of prudence and every feeling of patriotism. 

But first there was an outrage on all justice committed 
by the government ; many persons known to be of the 
Armagnac party were seized and cast into prison ; 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 191 

and some of them were put to death with little regu- 
larity of procedure and upon no evidence of guilt. 1 
Then a communication was opened with the English ; 2 
a truce was soon agreed upon ; a deputation was sent 
to Philip, Count of Charolais, Duke John's son, who 
succeeded him in his principality. Morvilliers, Pre- 
sident of the Parliament, was the bearer of an urgent 
entreaty from the chief office-bearers and most distin- 
guished inhabitants of the capital that he would, by 
all the means in his power, bring his father's mur- 
derers to justice ; all men renewed their oaths of 
fidelity to the Crown and against its enemies ; and 
exhortations to follow the same course were de- 
spatched into the other towns which adhered to the 
Court. Philip, the new duke, on his part was 
entirely filled with the same sentiments ; the desire of 
revenging his father's death ruled him with undivided 
sway ; and the Queen, wholly dead to maternal affec- 
tion, as well as enraged at the loss of her most powerful 
ally, fully shared in feelings which were so much more 
natural, if not more excusable, in the victim's son. 
Without any delay a communication was opened 
between the Court at Troyes and Henry. Philip 
entered willingly into negotiation with him, and 
received his proposals. The terms upon which the 
English prince agreed to an alliance, and to aid in 

1 Monstrelet, ch. ccxiv. 

2 The news of the assassination reached Paris 11th September, and 
"before the 24th Henry was in communication with the governors and 
chiefs at Paris, and with the Court at Troyes. Rym., ix. 797. 



192 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

making war on "the invaders," 1 as the treaty called 
them, were plainly enough stated. Not only he de- 
manded the Princess Catherine in marriage, but he 
must have the Regency of France during the King's 
life, and after his decease the Crown of France abso- 
lutely to him and to his heirs for ever ; and he further 
required that all the dignitaries of the realm, whether 
1419. civil or ecclesiastical, should swear alle- 
Nov 2 n gi ance to him as Regent now, as Sovereign 
Dec. 2. hereafter. This proposition, the possibility 
of making which afforded an awful commentary on 
the state of the kingdom, was dated on the 24th of 
October, was received at Martinmas, and was accepted 
on the 2nd December. Three weeks later Henry 
became bound by a separate convention to aid Philip 
in bringing the murderers to justice, and to grant him, 
when the Regency should commence, certain districts 
in France, bordering on Burgundy, to be holden as 
a fief under the Crown. These contracts form the 
treaty of Arras, and the foundation of that which was 
afterwards more formally made with Charles and his 
queen at Troyes. In order to explain the close 
friendship which, as the transaction proved, had been 
cemented between Henry and Philip, a reference is 
carefully made in the instruments to the connexion 
by marriage which would make them brothers-in-law, 
the Duchess of Burgundy being Catherine's sister. 

1 In the treaties between Henry and Philip this is the expression. 
The Dauphin's illegal and rebellious conduct only is mentioned in those 
with Charles VI. Rym., ix. 816. 825. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 193 

The project of a marriage, which afterwards took 
place and was then debated, between Philip's sister 
and Bedford, 1 is also set forth as forming an addi- 
tional tie. 

Although everything of any moment in this extra- 
ordinary transaction had been settled at Arras be- 
tween the real parties, a considerable time elapsed 
before the negotiation between Philip's instru- 
ments, the Court at Troyes, and Henry's am- 
bassadors, ended in the treaty which was to be 
public and binding on all parties. 2 It was not till 
the 9th April that the preliminaries were April 9, 
signed, and they bore evidence of the " ' 
causes from which the delay had arisen. The un- 
heard-of proceeding by which two foreigners, Philip 
and the Queen, while the King was suffering under 
mental derangement, took upon themselves, for the 
gratification of their own vindictive passions, to 
alienate the Crown of Prance, transferring it to a 
stranger, and that stranger the King of England, 
enemy of the country, was enough to rouse the most 
indifferent of French subjects, to startle the most 
zealous of Burgundian partisans. Of this enormity 
it was a serious, though in the comparison perhaps 
an unimportant aggravation, that the fundamental 
law of the monarchy was rudely broken through, 

1 Eym., ix. 521. 

2 The substance of the treaty of Arras had been allowed to transpire ; 
for, on the 24th Feb., 1420, Henry refers to his expectation of his 
succeeding to the crown in his answer to an address from Paris. 
Rym., ix. 854. 

O 



194 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

which suffered on no account a female to fill the 
throne or transmit the inheritance of it. Half the 
kingdom, too, at the time of making this general 
conveyance of it, was in the hands, not of the parties 
to the transaction, but of the heir apparent, whose 
title no one affected to doubt, while Philip's adhe- 
rents, even if they unanimously approved of the 
surrender, formed only one party in any portion of 
the country. The four months, then, that elapsed 
between the treaty of Arras and the preliminaries of 
Troyes must have been spent in attempting to smooth 
away the difficulties which it was naturally enough 
expected that the feelings of the people would create 
as soon as the whole affair should be known, and in 
obtaining from Henry something like concessions by 
which the general indignation might be allayed. 
Accordingly we find that beside putting forward the 
release of all claim to portion with the Princess, and 
dwelling on the filial relation in which Henry was in 
future to stand towards the King and Queen of 
France, there are provisions introduced which were 
not in the treaty of Arras, and which might seem 
calculated in some degree to disarm the public jea- 
lousy. A considerable jointure 1 was settled on the 
Princess ; the rights of the Parliament, and of the 
nobles, cities, and individuals, were to be preserved ; 
no taxes were to be levied except such as the public 
service required, and these according to the customs 
of the realm ; all conquests made during the Re- 

1 Equal to 50,000/. of our money. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 195 

gency were to be made for the Crown; and the 
Duchy of Normandy was to be restored to France 
immediately on Henry's accession at the King's de- 
cease. Finally, Henry was on no account to take 
the title of King during Charles's life. This last 
stipulation was the more necessary because he had 
hitherto always in his proclamations called himself 
"King of France and England," and had probably 
given offence by this wanton and useless act. It is 
to be observed that while these articles affect to pro- 
vide a security for the rights of the French people by 
words nugatory and inoperative, they impose no obli- 
gation whatever to employ Frenchmen rather than 
Englishmen in the public service. We can hardly 
doubt that some such provision was pressed upon 
Henry ; and the silence of the preliminaries only 
shows that he would listen to no such proposition. 
But there was retained the most offensive part of the 
Arras treaty, by which all persons were to swear alle- 
giance to him and his heirs as Kings of France. 1 It is 
probably in reference to this provision that a contem- 
porary writer, after stating the principal matters in the 
treaty, speaks of "certain other things which for their 
iniquity and wickedness must not be mentioned," 2 

It affords a singular proof of the degree to which 
Henry's ambition, buoyed up by the dazzling success 
of his arms, had infected those about him, perhaps 

1 Rym., ix. 877. 

2 Juv. des Urs., 377 : " pro-messes qu'il ne faut pas reciter pour 
l'iniqnite et mauvaisete d'yc-elles." 

o 2 



196 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

his people at large, that when these preliminaries were 
laid before his English Council many objections were 
raised, turning for the most part upon the abandon- 
ment of his style as King of France, and the post- 
ponement till Charles's death of his accession to the 
French crown. Led away by the dream of his here- 
ditary right, these thoughtless men were alarmed lest 
it might be impeached by being waived for a time. 
The King himself, as we may well suppose, satisfied 
with a success in obtaining the substance, beyond his 
most sanguine hopes, was wholly regardless of the 
shadow, and proceeded to the completion of the 
transaction undisturbed by the remonstrances of his 
advisers, which he probably conceived might proceed 
in part from adulation mingling itself with their folly. 
He repaired to Troyes with a considerable army, 1 
May 14, an( i m &de his entry with a splendid retinue 
1420. f cour tiers and officers richly caparisoned, 
himself displaying, as he had done at .Rouen, beside 
his armorial bearings, an emblazoned fox-tail, the 
emblem of that craft to which, not less than to his 
arms, he fondly ascribed his success. 2 A week was 
now spent in finishing the transaction ; some slight 
changes were made in the preliminary articles, par- 
ticularly by adding an obligation binding both the 
French Court and the Burgundian, as well as Henry, 

1 Some accounts say 1600, some as many thousands. Hoi., iii. 113. 

2 It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the amicable appearance 
of things, such were the apprehensions of treachery then prevalent, 
especially after the late assassination, that the preliminaries contained 
an article binding each party to use no fraud or force against the other. 






HENRY THE FIFTH. 197 

never to make a separate peace with the Dauphin, or 
without the assent of the States of the realm, and by 
providing that when England and France should be 
united under one sovereign, each should be governed 
by its own laws. 1 

On the 21st of May was finally ratified and signed 
by all the parties this, the most disgraceful treaty 
that was ever made by a civilized nation, which the 
French people have justly in all times regarded as 
fixing upon the reputation of their country a stain not 
to be effaced ; for if it was the work of factious and 
selfish leaders, it was also acquiesced in by their 
numberless adherents ; and even those of the opposite 
party must bear their full share of the blame, inas- 
much as the divisions by which the nation was dis- 
tracted made the general resolution prevail rather to 
receive a foreign yoke than fall under the dominion of 
adversaries at home. On Trinity Sunday, a June 2 
few days after the ratification, the marriage 142 °* 
of Henry with Catherine was solemnized with great 
pomp, according to the rites of the Gallican Church. 2 
The treaty was some months after, with a base exul- 
tation, accepted and registered by the States of the 
Eealm as the " law of the Monarchy ;" 3 and Dec 1420> 
a little later, with a somewhat more natural, Jan - 14:21 - 
if not very considerate satisfaction, it was approved 
by the English Parliament. 4 

Whether it was that this connexion with the House 

1 Rym., ix. 902, 3. 2 Juv. des Urs., 377. 

3 Rym., x. 30. 4 Rot. Par., iv. 135. 



198 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

of Lancaster, and the aid which it obtained for the 
French Queen's party," suggested the project of a 
similar alliance to the Court of Naples, or that Henry 
had himself commenced a new intrigue, is not quite 
clear. But Joanna, the Queen, a woman noted for 
her unprincipled character even among Italian prin- 
cesses, and no less famous for her profligate life, sent 
an ambassador 1 to oifer Bedford the succession to her 
Crown, with the immediate promulgation of his being 
adopted as her heir, on condition that he would, with 
a suitable force, hasten to her assistance against Louis 
of Anjou, who, under the Pope's protection, was 
claiming Naples by virtue of a decision in his favour 
pronounced at the Council of Constance three years 
before. Considerable progress was made in this nego- 
tiation ; and as Bedford was resolved to have good 
security before he embarked in the enterprise, he 
required not only to be created Duke of Calabria, the 
heir apparent's usual title, but also to be put into im- 
mediate possession of that duchy and of the two ports 
of Beggio and Benevento, to be treated in all respects 
as Joanna's son, and to have for himself whatever 
territory or spoil he might take from the enemy. 
Upon these conditions, which were acceded to, he 
agreed to advance a sum of money and to carry over 
thirteen thousand men for her defence. 2 There are 
no traces left of the manner in which this negotiation 
was broken off. In all probability the apprehension 
of exciting jealousy in the French and Burgundian 

1 Rym., ix. 855. 2 Ibid., 705. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 1 99 

Court made Henry prefer prosecuting the marriage 
between his brother and the sister of Philip. 1 Joanna 
having made the same offers to Alphonso, king of 
Arragon, as she had done to Bedford, was assisted by 
that prince ; and though, afterwards quarrelling with 
him, she revoked his adoption, he maintained his 
ground, and founded the Arragonese dynasty in Sicily 
and Naples. But it affords a singular instance of the 
universal activity of Henry in political intrigue, that 
at the same moment when the negotiation with Joanna 
for her adoption of Bedford was commenced, he sent 
ambassadors to Lorraine and to Nuremberg to treat 
of his marriage with princesses of those Houses, 
beside giving them a general commission to obtain 
the hand of any one of the Emperor Sigismund's 
relatives ; and at the same time he sent ambassadors 
to treat for marriage between his other brother 
Gloucester and the daughter of the King of Navarre. 2 
While the negotiations were going on which ended 
in the treaty of Troyes there was a truce between the 
English and the Burgundian towns ; but Philip, collect- 
ing round him L'Isle Adam, Luxembourg, and the 
rest of his father's captains, continued the war against 
the Dauphin, who had surprised several towns, among 
others Crespigny and Roye ; 3 but these were soon 

1 It is remarkable that historians are silent on this negotiation. 
Giannone, lib. xxv. c. 3. Sismondi, Eep. It., torn. viii. ch. 63. 

2 Kym., ix. 710, 716. The Joanna instructions are dated 12th March ; 
the powers to the ambassadors for the German marriage 18th March ; 
those for the Navarre marriage 1st April. Ryrner, ix. 865, appears to 
belong to 1419 (see ib. 705 and 701), and not to 1420. 

3 P. de Fen., 476. 



200 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

retaken, and he lost some ground in the country round 
Auxerre. In several of these expeditions English 
detachments served with the Burgundian troops. A 
Oct, 16 Parliament had been called at the end of 
1419# autumn, and in compliance with the Chan- 
cellor's (the Bishop of Durham) exhortation had 
granted a tenth and a fifteenth, with one-third more 
of each, and the power of raising money by loan upon 
the security of those supplies, as well as of the tenth 
which the clergy had granted in Convocation. 1 But 
no operations of importance were carried on by the 
army during the negotiations. Predatory excursions 
were made ; skirmishes took place with the Dauphin's 
troops. These were, indeed, a great annoyance both 
to the English and Burgundians ; and it became 
necessary to send out a protecting force as often as 
any communication was required between one part of 
the country and another ; for the provinces were not 
divided between the two contending parties ; and 
though the Burgundians chiefly prevailed to the north, 
and the Armagnacs to the south, of the Loire, yet 
the latter had many towns and petty districts also 
intermixed with the country which was principally 
Burgundian. The remains of the feudal polity 
increased this subdivision ; for not only was France 
parcelled out among the great feudatories — Princes 
in their own dominions, though holding under the 
Crown, as the Dukes of Brittany, Burgundy, and 
Bourbon, and the Count of Provence — but a number 

1 Rot. Par., iv. 117. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 201 

of petty chiefs, taking advantage of the confusion 
which reigned, and of the weakness of the Govern- 
ment, as well that of the Crown as of the feudatory 
Princes, had asserted their independence, and carried 
on hostile operations sometimes against each other, 
sometimes against the common Sovereign, sometimes 
against the great feudatories. Thus, a Baron or 
Knight in the neighbourhood of Calais, Sir James 
d'Harcourt, for some years made war upon Philip, 
and afterwards upon Henry, his ally, having origi- 
nally been a Burgundian vassal as well as partisan, but 
gone over to the Armagnac party, which gave him 
a better opportunity of depredation, the main object 
of all those petty chiefs. 1 The wretched state of 
France during the transition to the monarchical sys- 
tem, and while it was composed of the fragments of 
the feudal, cannot be so well illustrated as by con- 
sidering the events of the civil war, which could only 
have subsisted so long as it did in a country thus 
circumstanced. 

The Dauphin's cause, however, had been griev- 
ously injured by the assassination at Montereau. It 
was in vain that his adherents endeavoured to dis- 
guise from themselves the shock which this had given 
to all men's feelings, even among their own party. 
They could no longer hold up their adversaries to 

1 Monstrelet, ch. ccxxxiii. ccxlii. torn. ii. f. 7. The joy of the poor 
people when the siege of Crotoix gave the neighbourhood a hope of this 
pest being extirpated is mentioned by the chroniclers (Monstrel., torn. ii. 
f. 6). The wretch Harcourt made terms, and carried off his great wealth. 
He was killed soon afterwards in a treacherous attempt upon a castle in 
Touraine. This happened late in 1423 (ib. f. 8). 



202 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

general hatred as they had done ever since the 
Orleans murder. All use of that powerful topic was 
now interdicted. True, they had been freed from 
the pressure of Duke John's great talents both as a 
warrior and a statesman ; but they had also lost the 
advantage of having an opponent against whose crimes 
they could direct the public indignation, while they 
must be content to range themselves under leaders of 
tarnished reputation. In such circumstances, although 
the chiefs of parties and their zealots may not be 
affected by the feelings which naturally prevail, yet 
they very soon find that those sentiments sway all 
persons of calmer judgment, and that in the end they 
exercise an influence even over partisans themselves. 
Thus the Dauphin's title to allegiance during Charles's 
incapacity, though legitimate beyond all question, 
appeared to be shaken by his own conduct, the only 
quarter from whence it had anything to fear. It is 
not, then, to be wondered at if he anxiously employed 
every means within his power to protect himself from 
the prevailing obloquy. He diligently circulated his 
own account of the murder; but finding that the 
statement which he had at first made gained no credit 
from its gross improbability, especially after Mon- 
tague's contradiction, he now took a very different 
ground of defence, and one indeed that admitted the 
guilt which had before been denied. He rested his 
exculpation upon his youth, 1 and upon the control 

1 Having been born 23rd Feb. 1403, he was 16£ years of age at the 
time of the murder. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 203 

under which he was at the time ; he denied that he 
had ever given his consent ; he went so far as to 
affirm that, had it been his own father whom the con- 
spirators were resolved to slay, he must have acted 
as he did ; and to give the best proof of his sincerity 
in these declarations, he dismissed all the conspirators 
from his service, sending Jossequin and Madame de 
Giac to prison at Bourges, though her husband was 
allowed to remain at large. 1 

It is probable that this appeal produced at the time 
but little effect in his favour with his own party, and 
none at all with his adversaries. But the treaty of 
Troyes afforded him the most powerful support ; and 
although it is quite certain that the authors of that 
catastrophe never could have ventured upon their 
wicked course had not the assassination of Philip's 
father given some colour of right to his vindictive 
proceedings, as well as laid his adversaries under the 
weight of general censure, yet that which ever hap- 
pens in such cases took place here. The minds of 
men were filled with the more recent event ; in their 
indignation against those who had betrayed the king- 
dom they forgot for the moment those who had mur- 
dered the Duke; and their feelings were wound up 
to a still higher pitch when they reflected that the 
design of surrendering the country to its enemies, 
which originated in the unnatural hatred of a mother, 
had been executed by the gross perfidy of a wife. 

1 P. de Fen., 475. Speaking of the new defence, this author says, 
" Mais cela ne pent pas etre recu en excus." 



204 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

The people, indeed, could not easily separate their 
own cause from the Dauphin's, or indulge in resent- 
ment on their own account, without feeling some pity 
for him. 

That Prince was not slow to avail himself of this 
favourable turn in his affairs. He, more formally 
than he had yet done, assumed the title of Regent. 
He pressed his operations in Languedoc against the 
Prince of Orange, who, being a Burgundian vassal, 
had always taken that part ; he obtained considerable 
success, taking Pont St. Esprit, Nismes, Aigues- 
Mortes, at all of which captures the most revolting 
cruelties were committed by his troops ; ! he sent an 
embassy to Scotland for assistance, and obtained from 
the Begent Albany, with the consent of his Parlia- 
ment, a body of 7000 men under Buchan his son ; 2 
he garrisoned the towns in the north, especially Sens, 
which he had lately taken, Melun, Montereau ; and 
he took care to leave a trustworthy commander in 
each place exposed to attack. The great quality of 
judiciously selecting his servants, which in after years 
so distinguished him as to obtain for him the name 
le hien servi, seems to have thus early displayed 
itself; and as there is none more rare in a ruler, so is 
there none more precious in its fruits. 

Henry now plainly saw that the advantage which 
he had gained by the treaty was only to be secured 

1 Mez., i. 1026. Burgundians were cut in pieces and salted (says 
the historian) at one storming, and a general slaughter took place at 
another. 

2 Ford., Scoticr., xv. 33. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 205 

by the sword, and that the cession of France had 
been made when the war was only begun, instead of 
following, as is more usual, the termination of hosti- 
lities. He therefore lost no time in setting out with 
his troops and his Burgundian ally, but he was also 
accompanied by the King and Queen, and by Cathe- 
rine his bride. The siege of Sens was the first opera- 
tion which they undertook, and contemporary writers 
are fond of mentioning the novelty of women lying 
before a beleaguered town, while they admit that on 
former occasions the sex had borne arms. 1 It does 
not, however, appear that the Princesses or 

i m- i tt- i ttm! June, 1420. 

the afflicted King came nearer than Ville- 
neuve until the place surrendered, which it speedily 
did. The siege of Montereau was a much longer 
operation. After the town had fallen, Henry became 
impatient at the garrison holding out, and he resorted 
to an act of the greatest cruelty in the hope of making 
them surrender. He drew up under the walls of the 
castle eleven or twelve of the garrison, persons of 
rank, who had been taken prisoners, and he threat- 
ened to execute them if the commandant would not 
yield. Upon the refusal which he might well ex- 
pect, he erected a gibbet, and after allowing the 
wretched men to take leave of their families in the 
fortress, he caused them all to be hanged, one after 
another, in face of the garrison, hoping that the sight 
so deliberately inflicted upon the commandant would 
melt the heart of one whom he at the same time ac- 

1 Eym., ix. 911. 



206 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

cused of the Burgundian's murder. 1 A week after the 
castle surrendered ; and to make the act of cruelty 
that had been perpetrated still more inexcusable for 
its inconsistency, the governor was allowed to go free, 
after offering to clear himself of the charge by a 
challenge which no one accepted. 

To palliate this cold-blooded massacre, it is in vain 
that we are bid recollect the barbarous system of 
warfare in those days. If the putting prisoners to 
death was not uncommon, no more was assassination ; 
and if the mode of carrying on hostilities by slaying 
those who hold out be vindicated, on the ground that 
destroying one garrison may prevent others from re- 
sisting, and so save the effusion of blood, the answer 
is obvious, that by the same course of reasoning war 
might be proved innocent in proportion to its cruelty. 
But even were the sophistry to be admitted, it affords 
no palliation whatever for Henry's barbarous execu- 
tion at Montereau, because his victims were not the 
governor and his officers, but the prisoners to whom 
quarter had already been given; and his only motive 
for putting them one by one to death was, that he 
vainly speculated upon the spectacle of their fate 
moving the governor to surrender. As the only con- 
ceivable excuse, even in his own eyes, was the success 

1 P. de Fen., 482. Monstrelet, ch. ccxxvi. Hoi., iii. 120. Hall, 
102. — T. Liv., writing under the patronage of Henry VI., and addressing 
his work to him from page to page, of course suppresses this passage in 
Henry V. 's history. So does T. Elm. Juv. des Urs. likewise omits it, 
as thinking it bore against the Armagnac governor, who was much 
blamed. See Mons-tr., ubi supra. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 207 

of this calculation, his feelings, if he had any, were 
not to be envied when he found, towards the eighth 
or ninth execution, that he was committing so many 
murders to no purpose : yet he persisted until the 
whole eleven were despatched. 

The siege of Melun followed the surrender of Mon- 
tereau ; and it lasted between four and five months, 
from the great strength of the place, situated on the 
Seine, protected by works, and defended by Barbason, 
the best officer in the Dauphin's service. In the 
course of the operations there were, according to the 
fashion of the age, many single combats, and in those 
the chiefs took a part. In one of them two knights 
had fought for some time with their vizors down, when 
Barbason declared himself, saying, " I am the Com- 
mandant." "And I," said the other, "am the King 
of England." Some of these rencounters took place 
in the mines and countermines, where the combatants 
were seen fighting for a long space by torchlight. 
Once, a general assault was undertaken to storm the 
place, contrary to Henry's judgment ; and the event 
confirmed his opinion, for the besiegers were repulsed 
with considerable loss. He had with him during this 
siege the Duke of Bedford, who had come from Eng- 
land with a reinforcement of nearly 3000 men, and 
had been succeeded in the Regency by his brother 
Gloucester. The unfortunate King of Scots was also 
there — but, of course, by compulsion — it being deemed 
possible by his presence to deter the Scottish troops 
from acting with the Dauphin against their own 



208 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

sovereign. But they turned a deaf ear to all that he 
could urge, justly declaring that the commands of one 
himself a captive were of no force. When, however, 
the town at length surrendered at discretion, after 
costing the besiegers a loss of seventeen hundred men, 

N ov 17 Henry put twenty Scotch prisoners to death 
1420. on fa e em pty pretence that they had been 
taken in arms against their king. Four hundred pri- 
soners, French and Scotch, were also carried to Paris 
and cast into dungeons, where most of them perished 
of hunger. Several of them were executed on sus- 
picion of having been concerned in the murder at 
Montereau ; and Barbason himself, although clearly 
proved to be guiltless, was kept nine years in prison, 
under a very singular article of the capitulation, that 
those acquitted of the crime for want of proof might 
be detained. 1 Such of the garrison as were released 
altogether had to pay severely for it : in the expressive 
and accurate phraseology of the times, " they were 
made the subjects of Finance." 2 

From Melun the Sovereigns, with their retinues 
and their troops, proceeded to Paris, where they made 
their entry in the greatest pomp, and were received 
with every outward demonstration of joy. Nor would 
it be contrary to the known effects of party rage making 
men forget the public ruin in their eagerness to destroy 
their adversaries, if it were confessed that for the 

1 Juv. des Urs., 384. P. de Fen., 483. Good., 282. Hoi., iii. 123. 
T. Wals., 452. Monstrelet, ch. ccxxvi. ccxxix. 

2 " Mis a finance." Juv. des Urs., 384 et passim. 



HENRY THE FIFTH 209 

moment this exultation was sincere. Philip certainly 
regarded the grand entry as a Burgundian triumph, 
and while Charles moved around in the procession, 
being permitted to take the right of Henry, their 
powerful ally was seen on the opposite side of the 
way, as if to gratify the people with the recollection 
of their favourite, and the proof that this solemnity 
was the consummation of their revenge for his death. 
But more substantial homage was paid to the Pa- 
risian tastes than mere sentimental indulgence. Feast- 
ing and shows were given with a lavish hand ; fire- 
works were exhibited by night, and wine flowed by 
day through channels so ingeniously contrived that all 
might be regaled by their streams. But the curiosity 
of the people was mainly directed towards the persons 
of their new Monarch and his Queen. While Charles 
and Isabel were lodged in their hotel or palace of 
St. Pol, Henry and Catherine, with his brothers and 
his suite, occupied the Louvre, and it was speedily 
apparent that under what title soever he might be 
made manifest to the people, the English Monarch 
was the Sovereign of France. To him all the court 
was paid, all the homage rendered. Upon him all 
eyes rested ; and by an indiscretion highly blameable, 
if not with deliberate meaning more reprehensible 
still, there was a marked difference between the attend- 
ance and the treatment of the real and of the nominal 
King. While the foreign conqueror held a court at 
once crowded and sumptuous, the native Prince and 
his Consort were left in a deserted mansion, with few 



210 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

attendants and a frugal household. The lapse of 
four centuries must have strangely altered the cha- 
racter of the French as now we know them, if this 
spectacle, reflecting their own subjugation in the fallen 
greatness of their Prince, did not mortify and humble 
that high-spirited people, and did not awaken them to 
a feeling of remorse for the factious conduct by which 
their past misfortunes had been caused, and the humi- 
liation of that day brought about. 

The Regent was, however, resolved to show that 
the mere pageants of authority by no means satisfied 
him. His troops were put into possession of the 
fortress of Vincennes and of the Bastile, and they 
were quartered in the villages surrounding the capital. 
He appointed his brother Clarence Governor of Paris. 
He made such removals from office, and such appoint- 
ments to supply the vacancies, as he pleased ; and it 
was remarked, that he displaced not only persons who 
had owed their appointment to the King, but those also 
whom the Duke John (the Burgundian) had promoted. 1 
He then called together the States General, and ob- 
tained a formal confirmation of the treaty of Troyes, 
with their oath of allegiance to his person. A baseness 
was added which seemed more voluntary, and there- 
fore more despicable. They asked for an 

Dec. 1420. _. _ . V, _ . / „ 

edict from the Crown, which was ot course 
readily issued, denouncing all as traitors who should 
refuse to acknowledge Henry's title. A mockery 
was then performed with much solemnity, by assem- 

1 Monstvelet, ch. ccxxxiv. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 211 

bling a Council, somewhat anomalous in its compo- 
sition, for it consisted of the Parliament, DeCi 23> 
the Estates of some towns and districts, and 1420 ' 
the Royal Councillors ; and before this tribunal, pre- 
sided over by the imbecile King, with the Regent at 
his side, Philip and his family, supported by the 
Public Prosecutor, preferred his formal complaint 
against the Dauphin and his accomplices, demanding 
a decree that they should do public penance for the 
murder of Duke John, build and endow churches 
upon the spot where it was perpetrated, and suffer the 
punishment due to the offence. This decree was 
accordingly pronounced ; but as the parties against 
whom it was directed were altogether beyond the 
jurisdiction of the Court, it would have been wholly 
nugatory, had not an important addition been made, 
which was evidently the only purpose of the proceed- 
ing. The Dauphin was, with his accomplices, de- 
clared to have forfeited all civil rights, and all titles 
of inheritance ; his subjects were absolved from their 
allegiance, both present and future ; all oaths, before 
or after, taken to him were pronounced null ; and all 
persons so swearing or keeping such oaths, or in any 
way obeying or assisting him, were declared guilty of 
treason. 1 A few days after the Dauphin, by the 
title of Duke of Touraine, was with his accomplices 
cited to appeg*- Wore the Court of the Peers of Par- 
liament at the mtci'ble table, and on their making 
default, he was declared to be attainted and outlawed, 

1 Kym., x. 35. Monstrelet, ch. ccxxxii. Note XL VIII. 

p 2 



212 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

and the others were condemned to death. Against 
this sentence he proclaimed that he appealed to his 
sword ; but he at the same time summoned the Par- 
liament and University of Paris to attend him at 
Poictiers ; and thither, it is said, all the independent 
members of either body very willingly repaired. 1 

Soon after Christmas Henry left Paris with the pur- 
pose of carrying his Queen over to England. On his 
way thither he stopped a month in Normandy, where 
he found that some enforcement of discipline was re- 
quired both in the garrisons and among the clergy. 
In some of the former the troops, giving way to their 
thirst of plunder, had rashly undertaken a combined 
expedition to despoil Brie and the Valois, in return- 
ing from which they had been attacked and defeated 
with severe loss, being stripped of all their booty and 
leaving many of their number on the field. The non- 
residence of the clergy also called for a remedy. He 
had some time before issued requisitions to the Pre- 
lates, both in Normandy and in England, to enforce 
residence, and he now strictly enjoined it on all who 
had left their cures in order to avoid taking the oaths 
since the peace of Troyes. 2 He made other regula- 
tions of a very praiseworthy kind. One was, to pro- 
hibit the oppressive practices of persons in authority, 
as officers, bailiffs, gatekeepers of towns, who were in 
the habit of exacting gratuities in the nature of toll 
from all bringing goods to market or carrying them 

» Mez., i. 1027. P. Daniel, vi. 554. Juv. des Urs., 385, 703. 
* Bym., x. 84. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 213 

between one town and another. He also held a meet- 
ing of the Norman States, and they granted for the 
expense of maintaining his garrisons a sum of above 
100,000/. of our present money, with which, though 
inadequate to the occasion, he consented to rest satis- 
fied, considering how severely the duchy had suffered 
by the war. Henry left his brother Clarence as his 
Lieutenant both for France and Normandy ; he pro- 
ceeded to England, accompanied by the Queen and 
Bedford, at the head of a considerable army. 

Their reception in London exhibited a Fel3 2 4 
joy not much greater, though far more 1421, 
natural, than had attended their arrival at Paris ; and 
after celebrating the Queen's coronation with a mag- 
nificence never before displayed on such occasions, 
they made a progress through the country, visiting 
the principal towns. While at York Henry made a 
pilgrimage to the shrine of Bridlington, where he paid 
his devotions with his wonted fervour ; but his time 
was not devoted, in other places, exclusively to reli- 
gious acts ; he received the petitions of his subjects, 
heard their complaints, even encouraged them to state 
their grievances, and took measures for preventing 
the oppressions or abuses wmich had, during his 
absence, crept into the administration of public affairs. 
He is said to have in an especial maimer examined 
all charges connected with judicial proceedings, show- 
ing his accustomed anxiety to check the malversations 
of judges. 

While he was thus enjoying the popularity that 



214 HENEY THE FIFTH. 

ever attends upon conquests, however mischievous, 
and receiving the far more pure gratification of his 
people's thanks for some real service, a heavy blow 
was about to fall upon him — and the heavier for being 
altogether unexpected. In the midst of the rejoicings 
during his progress came the tidings that 
' Gloucester had suffered a total defeat in 
an attack upon the Dauphin's army at Beauge, in 
Anjou, and had been himself killed, with the Earl of 
Kent, the Lord Marshal, many others of his officers, 
and upwards of three thousand men, beside leaving 
many prisoners of distinction on the field. The his- 
tory of this affair has been imperfectly handed down 
to us, from the conflict of party feelings in contem- 
porary writers, some of whom suppress all mention of 
it, while others distort the facts probably with exag- 
geration. But it seems certain that Clarence had 
undertaken a great operation, and must have had 
with him the bulk of the English army ; for he had 
advanced almost to the Loire ; and after plundering the 
Counties of Chartres and Maine, and ravaging part of 
Anjou, he had encamped before Angers, with the Ar- 
magnac troops in his rear at Beauge. Believing that he 
took them by surprise, when in fact they had deceived 
him, he made his attack with part only of his force, 
hastening forward with most of his officers and all his 
cavalry, but leaving his archers to follow. Movements 
alike prompt and judicious appear to have been made 
by the Dauphin's troops, consisting of the united French 
and Scotch armies, and Clarence was completely de- 



HENEY THE FIFTH. 215 

feated after an action the severity of which March 22 
is attested by the loss on both sides ; for of 1421 - 
the English, beside more than 2000 left on the field, 
200 were made prisoners, and the French had about half 
as many killed. 1 The reputation of both armies was 
well sustained in the battle, but a cruel and treacher- 
ous act tarnished that of the vanquished party in their 
flight. They were pressed by the pursuing enemy, 
but got so far before them that they reached the 
Duchy without being brought to another action. On 
their inarch, however, they had to cross the Sarte, 
and found the bridge broken ; but they persuaded 
the people of the neighbourhood to repair it so as to 
afford a passage, pretending to be a French division, 
and displaying white crosses, the national badge. 
Thus it was by the assistance of those peasants that 
they made their escape ; and they proved it by the 
excuse which they urged for their conduct. The 
gratitude which they showed for so essential a service 
was putting to death on the spot a hundred of the 
men who had saved them from the enemy, and car- 
rying the rest away as prisoners, upon the pretence 
that it was necessary to prevent the alarm being 
given to the neighbouring towns, which might have 
cut off their retreat. 2 The Dauphin's troops pur- 
sued them into Normandy, and then sat down before 
Alencon ; but though the English were defeated in 

1 T. Wals., 454. T. Elm., 302. P. de Fen., 485. Juv. des Urs., 
389. Mez., i. 1028. P. Daniel, v. 556. Hall, 107. Hoi., iii. 127 
Stowe, 381. Ford., Sc. Cr., xv. 31. Hard., 384. Fab., 588. 

2 Monstrelet, ch. ccxl. 



216 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

an attempt to raise the siege, the assailants found the 
garrison too strong, and retired into Anjou, 

The glory of the victory at Beauge belonged prin- 
cipally to Buchan and the Scots, whose martial cha- 
racter had before stood low with the French, but was 
justly raised by their exemplary courage and steadi- 
ness in the battle, and by the talents yet more signal 
than the courage which their gallant commander dis- 
played. He was immediately rewarded by the 
Dauphin with the high office of Constable of France. 
It can hardly be doubted that this disaster must have 
powerfully impressed upon Henry's mind the justice 
of those unerring decrees, so often contemned both 
by his father and by himself when he came to reflect 
upon the quarter from whence proceeded the first 
serious reverse his arms had met. To the Scots he 
owed his defeat ; to the Scots, whose sovereign he 
had so long, so wrongfully held in captivity, and to the 
great warrior who commanded them nobly refusing 
all obedience to an imprisoned monarch. The mal- 
treatment of those whom fortune has placed within 
our power, always wicked, is often imprudent also ; 
whereas kindness, especially kindness shown to gene- 
rous natures, never yet afforded just cause of regret. 
Had Henry listened to the voice of justice, or indeed 
of common humanity, and restored to liberty his 
amiable and accomplished captive, instead of lending 
himself to the intrigues of the perfidious kinsman who 
usurped his throne, it is very possible that the policy 
of their country might have kept the Scots from join- 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 2 1 7 

ing in his wars ; but it may very safely be affirmed 
that James's gratitude would have prevented their 
being found leagued with the enemies of England. 1 

The distress of mind was severe which Henry suf- 
fered on receiving the accounts from Beauge, both 
because he had lost a brother whom he greatly loved, 
and because, in the necessarily critical posture of his 
affairs, any reverse of fortune must be attended with 
serious risk to his whole schemes. He could hardly 
have been for weeks at Paris without perceiving that 
the people were not to be kept in subjection much 
longer than they continued to be zealous for him as 
the enemy of their adversaries, and that, he saw, 
would prove but a feeble tie should his soldiers be 
unconciliatory or his commanders become unpopular. 
This was plainly enough perceived when he ordered 
LTsle Adam to be arrested at Paris, whether owing 
to a personal altercation at the siege of Melun, or 
because he found him plotting against the English 
interest ; the multitude rose, attempting a rescue, and 
were only put down by calling out the English troops. 
The popular favourite was cast into prison, and it 
required all Philip's influence to prevent Henry from 
inflicting capital punishment on the ablest of his ally's 
captains. 2 But before this incident occurred there 

1 NoteXLIX. 

2 All the accounts agree in representing Henry to have quarrelled 
with this bad and able man for not speaking in a more respectful 
manner. His looking a prince in the face was the matter laid to his 
charge. He said it was the French mode. Henry said it was unknown 
in England. — Monstrelet, ch. ccxlvii. 



218 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

had been frequent indications of discontent on the 
part of the Burgundian chiefs, who felt deeply what 
sacrifices had been made to the personal feelings of 
the Duke ; and, among others of his vassals, the 
Prince of Orange had peremptorily refused to swear 
allegiance after the treaty of Troyes. Philip, he 
said, not Henry, was his liege lord, and with England 
he had no concern. Refusing to assist at the pro- 
ceedings at Paris, he had even withdrawn his troops 
before the surrender of Melun, and had returned to 
his own principality on the Phone. The Normans, 
both ecclesiastics and barons, were many of them 
averse to the whole arrangements of Troyes ; and of 
the former a great number absented themselves from 
their benefices in order to escape taking the new 
oaths. It became manifest, then, that the defeat at 
Beauge happened at a time when it was likely to 
produce the most disastrous consequences ; and it 
required all Henry's firmness of purpose, and his 
known promptitude both in taking and in executing 
his resolutions, to ward off the dangers with which he 
was menaced. 

He made every exertion at home to levy new 
troops, indeed to form a new army ; and in this at- 
tempt the late success both of his arms and his policy 
in France was of great service. He borrowed a con- 
siderable sum from his uncle, the Bishop of Winton, 
who had before lent him 160,000/. ; of this above a 
third remained ; and he now obtained a further loan 
of above 10,000/., making in all above 170,000/., for 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 219 

which that wealthy prelate was his creditor. He 
then called the Parliament together, 1 and May 2j 
made his Chancellor, the Bishop of Dur- 1421# 
ham, address them upon the state of his affairs. A 
great disaster was confessed by the tone of the speech, 
as well as by the topics selected ; for the King's for- 
titude was compared to that of Job, who, when 
pressed with affliction, had said, "God's will be 
done." But it was not deemed prudent to ask for 
any supplies, although they were more wanted than 
ever. The only assistance which he obtained was a 
power bestowed upon the Council to give all who 
lent or might lend the King any money, security 
upon the duties already granted, and to continue the 
acts granting them until the next Parliament. A 
special act was also passed confirming the security 
given by Henry to the Bishop over the Customs of 
Southampton, and, if these should fail, over those of 
London and other ports, for the sums which he had 
advanced, with the further provision that if these 
should not be repaid within twelve months after the 
King's decease, the Bishop might retain as his abso- 
lute property the Crown which he held in pledge. 
Whether or not any other persons lent their money we 
have no information : the clergy, however, granted a 
tenth. We are left very much in the dark regarding 
the means which he had of providing for so large an 
expedition as he is known to have fitted out: 28,000 
men were raised, and it is said had eight months' 

1 Eot. Par., iv. 129 and 132. Note L. 



220 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

wages in advance, 1 4000 being cavalry and the rest 
archers. Henry at the same time ordered consider- 
able levies of men to be made in Normandy, and he 
had the address to conclude a treaty with the King 
of Scots, engaging to liberate him three months after 
his return, on condition that he married Clarence's 
daughter, the King's niece, and consented to take a 
partial release of his ransom as her portion. But the 
main object of this arrangement was to obtain James's 
more active assistance in the approaching campaign. 
He had during the last only been present, and his 
presence had failed to make the Dauphin's Scotch 
auxiliaries leave him. He was now to command a 
division, and was to be accompanied by Douglas with 

June 10, ^00 men, an assistance, however, for which 
1421 - that mean and mercenary chief stipulated 
the receiving of a pension. 

The formidable army which Henry thus collected 
gave confidence upon its arrival in France to his 
commanders and troops as well as to his adherents at 
Paris, where great alarm had been occasioned by 
the Dauphin's advancing and sitting down before 
Chartres. Henry soon obliged him to raise the siege 
and retire towards the Loire. Supported by con- 
siderable successes which Philip gained at the same 
time, and leaving the King of Scots to attack Dreux, 

Alio- 20 which surrendered after a short siege, he 

1421 • marched into the Orleans country, and took 

Beaugency and several places of less importance. 

1 Monstrelet, ch. ccxliii. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 221 

He then followed the Dauphin into the Berri ; but find- 
ing that he could not bring him to a general action 
against his superior force, and having suffered severely 
for want of provisions, as well as from sickness, which 
destroyed some thousands of his army, he returned 
from Bourges towards the capital. 1 On this march, 
seeing that he was observed by a party of the Dau- 
phin's troops, he pursued them. They took refuge in 
the castle of Rougemont, which he attacked and 
easily captured ; but for some reason, contemporary 
writers say because one Englishman had been killed 
in the assault, he caused the Armagnacs to be drowned 
in the neighbouring river. 

About the end of autumn he formed the siege of 
Meaux, the last operation of any moment in which 
he was engaged. The strength of the place, situated 
on the Maine, its castle built on the rock, the tried 
valour of the Bastard of Xaurus, its governor, and 
the numbers of the garrison, amounting to May 10 
1000, protracted the siege during seven 1422 - 
months, in the course of which an attack on the 
citadel was made and defeated with considerable loss. 
At the surrender, the whole effects of whatever kind 
were given up to the besiegers, and Henry ordered 
the governor to be beheaded and hanged upon the 
same tree on which he had executed many of the 
Burgundian party. It is not so easy to perceive why 

1 The Dauphin's remaining so long at Bourges in Berri got him the 
name of Roi de Bourges et de Berri. 



222 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

he also put to death the trumpeter who had sounded 
the defiance from the walk. 1 

During this siege tyo incidents occurred, of which 
one was memorable enough in its consequences, though 
the other only attracts notice by its singularity. 
Henry received the tidings, to him most exhilarat- 
p ec 6 ing, that the Queen had been delivered 
1421 • at Windsor of a son, the unfortunate heir 
to his kingdom, and destined to lose both his here- 
ditary and his conquered crown. He is said to have 
mingled his rejoicing over this event with a mournful 
foreboding — " Henry of Monmouth will reign but a 
little space and gain much ; Henry of Windsor will 
reign long and lose all." But a harder fate befel his 
kinsman the Earl of Cornwall, whose son, a gallant 
youth, was struck dead by a bullet while standing at 
his father's side. The wretched man fell into a pas- 
sion of grief, as might naturally be expected ; but the 
resolution which it suddenly inspired was not so easily 
to be comprehended. He who had without compunc- 
tion seen and helped to cause so many deaths in the 
wars, and who well knew from the first the gross in- 
justice of the invasion, having his eyes as it were 
opened by his own misfortune to the nature of his 
past and present pursuits, now beat his breast as, in 
an agony of remorse, he exclaimed that Normandy had 
been the object of the expedition, but that to strip 

1 Monstrelet, oh. cclxi. T. Wals., 456. 
vi. 560. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 223 

the Dauphin of his rightful crown was without any 
excuse ; and made a solemn vow never again to bear 
arms against any Christian man ; wherewithal he left 
the army and returned no more. 1 

The surrender of Meaux was followed by that of 
many other less important places in the neighbouring 
districts ; and it is commonly said that all France 
north of the Loire, except Maine, Anjou, and a few 
castles in Picardy, was now under the dominion of 
Henry. 2 But this is an incorrect statement ; for a 
part of the Yalois in the Isle de France was still 
subject to the Armagnacs, as was the country of 
Guise ; and in Picardy, Harcourt was so far from 
being reduced that he refused even to treat with the 
ambassadors sent to him 3 after the fall of Meaux, nor 
was he overcome till the next year. Maine and 
Anjou, too, form large deductions from the north of 
France, and Brittany was a neighbouring state re- 
tained in no subjection at all, and only prevented 
by truce from engaging in hostilities. But, indeed, 
how little power the allies had over the country 
nominally subject to them, may be perceived from 
the unquestionable fact that during the siege of 
Meaux the Dauphin's troops inarched from Bourges 
to St. Dizier, in Champagne, on the one hand, and 
to Bernay on the other, a distance in either case of 
above 160 miles, and met with little or no resistance, 
occupying the former place for some time, and doing 

4 P. de Fen., 491. 2 Ling., iii. 378. 

3 Monstvelet, ch. cclxiv. 



224 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

great damage to the country in both incursions. Nor 
is it material whether each of those expeditions came 
from Bourges or not; for if either was sent from 
some strongholds of the Armagnacs farther to the 
north, this would equally show how little sway Henry 
and Philip had over the country beyond the places 
actually occupied by their forces. The discontents, 
too, must not be forgotten which frequently broke out 
in Paris, and made it necessary always to keep a 
strong English garrison in the Bastile. They were 
in part occasioned by a tax which Henry laid on, 
apparently resembling the tenths and fifteenths in his 
own country, for the purpose of restoring the coin to 
its just standard. All persons, too, were ordered to 
send in their plate, and though promised an equi- 
valent in the new coinage, the grossest frauds were 
committed by the revenue officers, who in many cases 
took the plate and repaid nothing like its value. 1 
The restoration of the coinage was no doubt a great 
benefit to the lords whose tenants (censitaires) had 
been paying their rents in the depreciated currency ; 
but the tradesfolk, and all who had personal property, 
paid severely for it, while the commoner people 
neither gained nor lost by the measure, nor by the 
means taken to accomplish it. The latter class, in- 
deed, were the part of the nation the least disaffected 
towards the English government, which found little 
favour with the upper and middle orders of the Bur- 

1 P. cle Feu., 495. Mez., i. 1029. The account given of the debase- 
ment is dreadful : the crown of 18 sous went for 9 francs, or 180 sols. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 225 

gundian party after the first impression had worn 
away of thankfulness that their adversaries had been 
put down. If his own observation had not convinced 
Henry of this truth, an incident which occurred soon 
after the fall of Meaux was likely to do so. A plot 
against his life was hatched at Paris, and only dis- 
covered and its contrivers punished through a mere 
accident. But he seems to have been fully aware 
in how critical a position he stood, for he not only 
hastened to conclude a treaty with the Count de Foix, 
a baron of much in influence the south, conferring 
upon him the government of Languedoc if he should 
succeed in conquering it from the Dauphin, but he 
sent ambassadors to the Emperor Sigismund and the 
King of Portugal to solicit the aid of troops from 
those princes. The Queen also had brought over 
some reinforcements ; and indeed it is none of the 
least proofs of his real difficulties having been im- 
perfectly described by historians that we find him able 
to accomplish so little during the year which elapsed 
after his return from England. He had landed 
with the largest army ever disembarked in France, 
and he had in his Norman and other garrisons what- 
ever troops remained of his former expeditions ; yet 
he fought no battle, he carried on but one siege of 
any importance, and he lost only 4000 men by sick- 
ness, when at the end of little more than a year we 
find him unable to prosecute his operations for want 
of men. This consumption of his army is as little 
explained by the historians of the age as the resources 

Q 



226 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

which enabled him to assemble it. The probability 
is that he derived his supplies from the extortions 
committed in the conquered countries, and owed his 
losses to the constant attacks of the inhabitants, as 
well as of the Armagnac detachments. 1 

The principal efforts of the Dauphin of late had 
been made against the dominions of Philip, 

July, 1422. 

' from whom he had taken the town of La 
Charite on the Loire ; and now assembling an army 
of 20,000 men, he laid siege to Cosne, a more im- 
portant place. The garrison being pressed agreed to 
Aug. 6, surrender if not relieved by a certain day, 
1422, before which it was settled between the 
Dauphin and Philip that they should fight a pitched 
battle, and so decide the fate of the town. With a 
view to this engagement Henry was asked for his 
assistance, and at once declared that he should him- 
self march to the spot with his whole army. Bedford 
was sent before in the command ; the King was to 
follow and overtake him. Philip having, beside the 
English forces, obtained reinforcements from his own 
Flemish States and from those towns in Picardy which 
still owned the Burgundian authority, appeared at the 
head of so powerful an army that the Dauphin pursued 
his wonted cautious policy of risking nothing, but trust- 
ing to time and the general support of the country ; 
and he withdrew from Cosne, retiring into Berri. 

But Henry had not been able to join the as- 
sembled forces ; an illness which he brought back 

1 Note L. 



HENEY THE FIFTH. 227 

from his expedition to the Loire had increased upon 
him rapidly. Unwilling to believe that it was serious, 
he resolved to follow the army, and taking leave of 
the King and Queen, as well as of his own court, he 
arrived at Melun, where he became so much worse 
that he had himself placed in a litter, in order to 
reach Cosne by the day appointed for the battle. 
But there was no struggling with the malady which 
had stricken him ; and unable to proceed, he was 
carried back to Vincennes. Bedford, hearing of his 
illness, immediately quitted the army and repaired to 
his residence ; he found him worse than the accounts 
that had alarmed him represented. It soon appeared 
manifest that the disease was mortal, and none sooner 
than the royal sufferer became aware of the truth. 
He called to his bedside Warwick, Robesart, and one 
or two others, as well as his brother, and addressed 
them in few but touching words. He disguised not 
from them his sorrow at being called away by the 
supreme Disposer of events in such a crisis, but so- 
lemnly charged them to stand by his infant son, and 
defend his realm both inherited and acquired. To 
Bedford he gave the Regency of France in case 
Philip should, as he plainly expected, refuse it ; to 
Gloster he gave that of England, to Beaufort the 
Bishop the guardianship of his child. The utmost 
cordiality with Philip he strongly recommended to 
them all, and especially to Gloster ; he likewise 
strictly enjoined them to retain Orleans, d'Eu, and 
the other prisoners of Agincourt, at all events during 

Q 2 



228 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

his son's minority. But notwithstanding a general 
expression of his confidence in the " promising state 
of his affairs," one part of his dying commands be- 
trayed in a remarkable manner his distrust of the 
ultimate result : — he strictly charged his brother on 
no account whatever to make any treaty with the 
Dauphin by which the Duchy of Normandy should 
be restored to the French crown. 

When the lords had retired from this scene so 
deeply affecting, he summoned his physicians, and 
demanded how long they considered he had to live. 
Evading the question, they said the issue was in the 
hands of God ; but they forgot with whom they had 
to deal. He expressed himself dissatisfied with the 
answer and repeated the question, desiring that the 
truth might be told him at once. They conferred 
together for a few moments, and then, one of their 
number falling upon his knees, bade him think of his 
soul, for without an interposition of Divine Provi- 
dence he could not survive two hours. He then sent 
for his confessor and chaplains, whom he desired to 
sing the seven penitential psalms. When they came 
to the verse in one of these which makes mention of 
Jerusalem, he declared that it was always his inten- 
tion, after completing the conquest of France and 
restoring peace, to undertake a crusade for the reco- 
very of the Holy City, had it pleased the Almighty 
to spare his life ; thus joining in the grossest of all 
the follies by which those times were distinguished, 
nay, a delusion which had even then become in a 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 229 

manner obsolete, that the spot was sacred in which, 
according to our religion, the Saviour had been put to 
death, and that his sepulchre was the place in which, 
according to the same religion, his body had not been 
buried. — The service which Henry had or- All2 31 
dered was closed, and soon after he expired, 1422# 
amidst the loud but sincere lamentations of his at- 
tendants. 1 

The disease which carried him off is variously re- 
presented by contemporary writers and those who 
have followed them. One says it was a pleurisy, and 
cites P. Basset, his chamberlain, as the authority. 2 
Another calls it St. Anthony's fire. 3 Several ac- 
counts agree in representing it as a fistula ; and one 
zealous Frenchman conceives it to have been a judg- 
ment of Heaven because Henry had dared to sit on 
the throne of France ; 4 while another, a zealous 
Catholic, says he died of the bowel complaint termed 
St. Fiacre, and holds his death to have been a visita- 
tion on him for intending to remove the relics of that 
saint. 5 

The faithful record of any one's life is the best de- 
scription that can be presented of his character ; yet 
some ancient and nearly all modern authors have 
been used to give a summary of the merits and de- 
merits of those whose history they write, as if they 

1 Monstrelet, ch. cclxvi. Juv. des Urs., 395. P. de Fen., 493. 
T. Wals., 457. T. Liv., 95. T. Elm., 333. Monstrelet mistakes 
Exeter for Gloster as Regent. 

2 Hall, 113. 3 Monstrelet, ch. cclxvi. 
4 Mezer., i. 1030. 5 Juv. des Urs., 394. 



230 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

distrusted either the descriptive powers of their own 
narrative, or the capacity of their readers to draw from 
it a just conclusion. Begarded as affording a con- 
densed view of the subject, this practice has its advan- 
tages, although there are few eminent persons of any 
age upon whom it would be less difficult from the facts 
to pronounce a correct judgment than Henry V. 

That he possessed in an extraordinary degree all 
the qualities which constitute a great commander and 
a skilful ruler cannot for a moment be contested. It 
is equally certain that he had the firmness of mind, 
the steadiness of purpose, not always found united to 
great civil and military capacity, but without which 
no talents can, unless by some mere accident, be of 
any avail. No less undeniable is it that he devoted 
all those rare endowments, with all that determined 
spirit, throughout his whole reign to the gratification 
of his ambition, and applied the whole energies of 
his nature, with very few and very short intervals, 
exclusively to the pursuit, first of plunder, then of 
conquest ; bent only upon plunder when both his in- 
vasions were undertaken — upon conquest when unfore- 
seen events gave him hopes of a greater success. In 
pursuing these objects he wholly disregarded every 
principle of justice, violated wantonly all feelings of 
humanity, sacrificed the interests of his own country, 
shed the blood of his subjects as well as of his neigh- 
bours, ravaged with fire and sword the fields of a 
people who had never given him the least offence, 
and, availing himself of their domestic quarrels and 



HENEY THE FIFTH. 23 1 

of their King's insanity, seized upon his crown, to 
which he had not the shadow of a title except what 
mere force hestowed. The only consideration that 
can be urged to palliate conduct which nothing can 
excuse, is the barbarous spirit of the times — the habits 
in which men's minds were trained to confound all 
the ideas of right and wrong — the dreadful familiarity 
with rapine and slaughter which they had come to 
regard as the natural condition of society. The ad- 
vance towards refinement which alone they professed 
to have made and alone valued, the usages of chivalry, 
sanctioned, though somewhat capriciously, many acts of 
gross perfidy, and made a contempt of death the substi- 
tute for all virtues, the excuse for all crimes. That he 
flourished in such an age must be admitted in extenua- 
tion of Henry's guilt ; this, together with the gratifica- 
tion of national prejudices afforded by his reign, also 
accounts for the high estimation in which his conduct 
and character has ever been held by the English people. 
In enumerating his merits it is not enough that 
we make mention of his great capacity for affairs 
both in peace and in war. He was a person of bril- 
liant accomplishments, of knowledge somewhat in 
advance of his age, and fond of encouraging learned 
men ; for Waldensis, the most voluminous writer of 
the times, and skilled in most of the sciences then 
cultivated, was his confessor, and Lyndewode, the 
famous canonist, his ambassador ; he made his friend 
Eocleve, an astronomer of note, Bishop of St. David's, 
and projected the foundation of a college at Oxford 



232 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

for teaching the seven sciences. Educated at that 
illustrious seminary, he was long remembered as a 
student, and his chamber over the gate of his col- 
lege was shown to all who went thither. 1 He had 
the far higher virtues of patience, fortitude, tem- 
perance, in an extraordinary degree ; his attention to 
all religious duties was constant and it was exem- 
plary, nor could it be accused of ostentation, except 
in so far as it was made by so politic a prince the 
means of securing support both of the church and the 
laity; and in regarding this part of his character we must 
again bear in mind the ignorance and the prejudices 
of his age. He suffered his stepmother, Joan, to be 
harshly treated, and her supposed accomplice to be 
imprisoned for life, because they were thought to be 
guilty of an offence which we now know and believe 
to be impossible — the seeking to shorten his life by 
incantations. But witchcraft was, four centuries ago, 
as much considered to be a crime as treason ; and no 
one would have been heard to question the possibility 
of assailing the King by sorcery, more than if he 
doubted that the offence could be committed of com- 
passing and imagining his death by poison. 

Henry's demeanour answered at once to the gra- 
vity of his virtues and the elegance of his genius, 
for he was both dignified and graceful. More 
thoughtful than eloquent, his words, if few, yet were 

1 J. Ross, 207. (Rous) : " Cujus camera supra portam in introitu 
dicti collegii." Rous says he had seen Henry's deed of foundation at 
Oxford. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 233 

choice, and never failed deeply to impress those 
whom he addressed. Excelling in all martial quali- 
ties, he yet was content to possess them, and sought 
not to exhibit them, but reserved his exertions for 
worthier occasions than the vain gratification of dis- 
play. His temper, however, was high and even 
haughty ; entire self-possession came to him from the 
consciousness of desert and of power, as entire self- 
conficlence was not unnaturally begotten by a course 
of success in circumstances that might well have 
engendered despair. .To his own subjects his lofty 
manner was probably tempered by more of kindness, 
and his nature, though generally reserved, was yet 
by intervals frank. But with the French he only 
showed the rigour of the commander, the caution of 
the politician, the sternness of the conqueror ; and if 
a reflection on the severe justice which he caused to 
be administered without any, the least, respect of 
persons or of ranks, found favour for him in the eyes 
of the people, it is certain that there was nothing in 
either his position or his demeanour which ever won 
their hearts. Except among the chiefs of the Burgun- 
dian party he had no real friends; and while all dreaded 
and most admired him, by none was he beloved. 

It would be unjust if, in forming an estimate of 
Henry's merits, we were to avoid a comparison with 
those of his immediate predecessors in the same field 
of exertion ; and when we take either his great 
grandfather, Edward III., or his great uncle the 
Black Prince, with whom to compare him, it must 



234 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

be confessed that we subject him to a trial sufficiently 
severe. Over both he may be allowed the supe- 
riority whether as regards his civil or his military 
capacity. His skill in turning to account the civil 
dissensions of France was exercised in more difficult 
circumstances, and was attended with more important 
results. His domestic administration was more ex- 
cellent than Edward's, and betokened a disposition 
to check malversation and to reform abuses, which 
no prince since the days of Alfred had ever shown. 
The countenance which he gave to persecution, the 
worst part of his conduct at home, may be admitted 
to have had some palliation, though no excuse, from 
the novelty of the Reformed doctrines, respecting 
which the Edwards had never been called to act; 
and those proceedings abroad which most call fjr 
reprobation, his forming unworthy associations to 
further his schemes, his perfidy while prosecuting 
these intrigues, his cruelty in the conduct of the war, 
are all not merely matched but exceeded in the his- 
tory of him whom the concurring voices of his coun- 
trymen through all ages have commemorated as the 
flower of English chivalry. If Henry endeavoured 
to league himself with John of Burgundy, the most 
wicked ruler of his day, the Black Prince actually 
patronised and enthroned Peter the Cruel, a more 
wicked ruler in a more profligate age. If Henry 
joined with the unscrupulous mob of Paris and the 
bloodthirsty gangs of feudal adventurers in the north, 
the Black Prince was in alliance with those vet more 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 235 

detestable gangs whom his wars in the south had 
mainly formed — the Free Companies, the army of 
mercenary bandits, the scum of all nations, but more 
of English and of Gascons than of all others, troops 
whose vocation was pillage and slaughter, whose ap- 
proach was the destruction of property and life, 
whose attachment depended on their pay alone, and 
who ravaged a large portion of Europe only in quest 
of booty. From the contamination of such an al- 
liance as this, Henry at least was pure. The Black 
Prince, after leading those bands to battle, and by 
their aid gaining one of his greet victories, could 
only shake himself free from his vile associates by 
turning them loose into the territory of his neigh- 
bours. Finally, if Henry made many severe ex- 
amples upon the surrender of towns to his arms, some 
of those wholly without excuse, he cannot be charged 
with so enormous a crime as the Black Prince perpe- 
trated at Limoges, where, suffering under the disease 
that was carrying him to the tomb, he sat in his 
litter, and unmoved, except with satisfaction, wit- 
nessed the inhuman massacre of above 3000 persons, 
women and children as well as men, in cold blood, 
after spurning them from his feet, at which they had 
cast themselves to implore for mercy. 1 



The reign which we have been describing in detail 
was not distinguished by any important changes in 
the constitution of England. The framework of our 

1 Note LI. 



236 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

mixed government had been constructed under the 
first and third Edwards ; such as its general prin- 
ciples were nearly five centuries ago, such they still 
remain, and the improvements introduced during that 
long course of years have been in the manner of admi- 
nistering it. But nothing can be more important than 
improvements of this description ; for it is undeniably 
true that, as regards the practical effects of any con- 
stitution, more depends upon the mode of working it, 
and even the men employed, than upon the structure 
of the machine. 1 That structure is chiefly valuable in 
so far as it may present obstacles to the evil-disposed, 
who would abuse its powers, and may help those in- 
clined well to exercise them. 

But although no steps were made towards the com- 
pletion of our political system, so important as distin- 
guished the reigns of the Edwards, much was never- 
theless gained for it under Henry. The infirmity of 
his title prevented him from ever venturing to slight 
the authority of Parliament in granting supplies, in 
general legislation, and to a certain degree hi the ad- 
ministration of affairs. Whatever money was raised 
by taxes he owed entirely to their votes ; and as the 
intoxication into which his victories threw them, along 
with the country, never tempted him to encroach upon 
their functions, so he showed his sense of their power 
by letting their chagrin at his only disaster pass away 
before he asked for any aid to re-establish his fortunes. 2 
An important change in the financial system was intro- 

1 Pol. Phil., Pt, iii. ch. xxvi. 2 Note L. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 237 

duced in his time, and it showed in a striking manner 
the ascendant of the Parliament, for it was entirely of 
Parliamentary creation — I mean the practice of 
pledging, as a security for loans made to the Crown, 
duties already granted, the unhappy effects of which 
in after times have already been noted. The changes 
which he made in the currency were of two kinds — 
one highly reprehensible, the other most salutary ; the 
former effected by the prerogative, the latter by sta- 
tute. He raised the denomination a fifth, coming the 
pound of silver into thirty shillings, Edward I. and 
Edward III. having raised it from twenty to twenty- 
five. No such violent operation was ever performed 
except under the despotic and unprincipled reign of 
Henry VIII. ; for by this Act, whoever owed a hun- 
dred and twenty pounds was enabled to extinguish his 
debt by paying a hundred. On the other hand, with 
his wonted vigour of action, he called in the clipped 
and debased coin, and issued a new currency; and 
though this for the moment produced somewhat of the 
inconvenience which had attended the former opera- 
tion, except that it fell upon the debtor instead of the 
creditor, its benefits on the whole were great and 
lasting. Although the raising of the denomination 
was effected without application to Parliament, it was 
no stretch of the prerogative. The Crown has this 
power over the coin at the present day, though prac- 
tically it is very unlikely to be exercised. It may be 
doubted whether the calling in of the current coin and 
the new coinage could not now be effected without the 



238 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

sanction of Parliament, supposing no expense to be in- 
curred. Henry adopted the more constitutional course 
of preferring a legislative proceeding. Indeed he ap- 
pears in some sort to have acknowledged the Parlia- 
ment's right to legislate upon this subject ; for he ob- 
tained an Act empowering the King in Council to 
make regulations touching the com, which should have 
force until the beginning of the next session. 1 

But the most important event for the constitution — 
at least the most remarkable homage to its principles, 
and which affords the most striking proof that these 
were both understood and acknowledged — was the 
solemn pledge given by the Crown to the Commons, 
in answer to their prayer for a recognition of " the 
right at all times possessed by them " (such is their 
language) of not being bound by any laws to which 
their previous assent had not been fully given. The 
answer returned, though it be subject to observation, 
plainly enough admits the right of the Commons, and 
pledges the Crown that no Act shall ever pass without 
their authority. 2 It must be remembered that, under 
the Edwards, not only had this most important principle 
never been admitted : it had been constantly violated. 
There had however been, at the beginning of Henry 
IV.'s reign, a recognition of it nearly as full as that 
made by his son. 3 

1 Rot. Par. iv. 35. This Statute does not appear in the Statutes of 
the Realm published by the Commissioners. The 2 Hen. V. St. 2, c. 
4, relates to the coin : but is wholly different from the one cited in the 
text from Rot. Par. See Note XLV. 

2 Rot. Par. iv. 22. (2 Hen. V.) 3 Notes LIL, LIU. 



HENEY THE FIFTH. 239 

It was another homage to the supremacy of Parlia- 
ment, that Henry laid before them his treaties with 
foreign States, and called for their sanction to the 
compacts which he had made by virtue of a preroga- 
tive to this day vested in the Crown, and constantly 
exercised. Not only did he thus act in his great 
treaty for uniting the monarchies of France and Eng- 
land under one crown (here it may be supposed that 
requiring a Parliamentary recognition was a matter of 
course), but his alliance with Sigismund belonged to a 
different class altogether, and yet the treaty, offensive 
and defensive, with that Prince was submitted to the 
approval of Parliament. This practice prevailed in 
foreign countries which had States to assist in the 
Government ; and Henry may possibly have adopted 
it in imitation of their proceedings, as well as in token 
of his good will towards his own Parliament. 

It is hardly correct to regard the legislative pro- 
mises which are made at the beginning of a reign, and 
before the Sovereign's power is fully consolidated, or 
his scheme of policy matured, as illustrating his cha- 
racter, or perhaps as in all instances proceeding from 
himself. In the times, especially, of which we speak, 
the Parliament generally availed themselves of the 
demise of the Crown to obtain some favourite mea- 
sure. We ought hardly then to regard as Henry's 
acts two important laws passed immediately after his 
accession : the one requiring that knights of the shire 
and members for cities and boroughs should be resi- 
dent inhabitants, and that only resident freeholders 



240 HENKY THE FIFTH. 

should vote in counties ; ] the other restraining the 
power of royal purveyors by attaching a severe penalty 
to the exacting for the appointed prices more grain 
than the standard quantity of eight bushels a quarter. 2 
The former Act was in all probability inoperative, un- 
less in so far as it may have prevented the abuse of 
absent freeholders voting ; for in the Acts of the next 
reign, confining the elective franchise to forty-shilling 
freeholders, residence is still more especially required 
both of the knights and the electors, and yet we know 
that it never has been considered as within the 
exigency of those important statutes. 3 The Act re- 
straining the malversation of purveyors was of great 
moment; for these had been used to require much 
more than the quantities specified to be furnished at 
given prices ; consequently purveyance, always oppres- 
sive, had become intolerable. 

But though the merit of these reforms in the State 
may not have been Henry's, certainly to him, next 
after the Lollards, we must ascribe whatever was done 
to correct abuses in the Church. Two classes of these 
had, probably in consequence of the progress made by 
the new doctrines, early forced themselves upon his 
attention ; and the desire which he showed to repress 
them deserves the greater commendation because his 
whole policy, like that of his father (at least ever 
after his usurpation), was framed upon the plan of 
gaining the clergy. The non-residence of incumbents 

1 1 Hen. V. o.l. 2 1 Hen. V. c. 2. 

3 8 Hen. VI. c. 7 ; 10 Hen. VI. c. 2. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 24 1 

was one ground of complaint ; the dissolute lives of 
the friars, especially the Benedictines, was another. 
These, and almost all other abuses in the Romish 
Church of which the Lollards complained, had been 
very fully and indeed unsparingly set forth in a peti- 
tion to the King from the University of Oxford, and 
made the ground of a prayer that, " as Providence 
had raised him up like another Constantine, Marcius, 
or Theodosius, so he would employ his power for 
effecting a reformation of the evils detailed." The 
papal encroachments, too, had become intolerable, 
setting at defiance the laws made under Edward III. 
and Richard II. to restrain them. These matters 
were made the subject of urgent remonstrance by 
Henry's representatives at the Council of Constance, 
as soon as Martin V. was chosen ; and a Concordat 
was made by him in which he agreed to remove many 
grounds of complaint. Cardinals were only to be ap- 
pointed with consent of a majority in the conclave ; 
diocesans were to inquire into abuses in the sale of 
indulgences, but chiefly of such indulgences as enabled 
parties to transfer their payments to other churches 
than their own ; a check was given to the appropria- 
tion of benefices, and provision made for the per- 
formance of the services by vicars ; finally, no new 
dispensations for plurality were to be granted by the 
Holy See, and none already granted for non-resi- 
dence were to be valid. 1 It is, however, certain, that 

1 L'Enfant, Con. Const, ii. 483 (App.). Eym. ix. 730. Henry 
sent a mission in 1419 to Martin on this subject. 

R 



242 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

although it suited Martin's plans to gain over the 
English at the Council by such compliances, yet as 
soon as it was dissolved and he returned to Italy, the 
whole was forgotten, and the abuses went on much as 
before. He actually conferred the archbishopric of 
Canterbury on his nephew, a boy of fourteen, who 
also held by his uncle's appointment fourteen bene- 
fices in England ; he induced priests to vacate their 
livings by providing them with secular employments ; 
and he excluded the English from all dignities at the 
Court of Rome. 1 Henry does not appear to have 
followed up his proceedings which had obtained the 
Concordat by any remonstrances on the violation of 
its articles, and he showed so much favour to the 
Pope's nephew as to allow his holding the prefer- 
ment bestowed on him. But his general course was 
to refuse all the formal concessions which the See of 
Rome required, and yet to permit its encroachments 
in a temporizing manner. Thus, when Martin asked 
him by his Nuncio " to explain, repeal, or modify" 
the Statutes of Provisors, complaining of them as a 
very great grievance, Henry made answer, that they 
had been passed neither by himself nor by his father, 
but by former kings, that he was bound by his 
coronation oath to execute them, and that without 
the consent of his three Estates in Parliament he 
could neither explain, nor repeal, nor modify them. 2 
The Pope, however, went on appointing bishops ; 
but as he named those elected by the Chapters 

1 L'Enfant, ii. 227. 2 Rym. ix. 806. 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 243 

under the King's licence {conge oVelire), Henry ad- 
mitted the prelates so appointed to the temporalities 
upon their fully renouncing all expressions which 
the Bulls might contain in any way prejudicial to the 
rights of the Crown, and submitting themselves to 
his pleasure. 1 In Normandy he appears to have 
excluded all interference with a somewhat higher 
hand. 2 

It does not appear that in England Henry made 
any vigorous exertions against non-residence more 
than against pluralities. In Normandy he issued 
several times his rescripts to the Prelates and 
Chapters, charging them to enforce the law of the 
Church requiring residence. Upon one occasion, 
after the Treaty of Troyes, his commands were chiefly 
directed to prevent clerks from absenting themselves 
for the purpose of evading the new oath of allegiance ; 
but on other occasions the simple duty of residence 
was alone contemplated. 3 

The state of the religious houses appears to have 
seriously drawn his attention to the odium, if not 
the peril, which their irregular lives brought upon 
the Church. The Benedictines, commonly called 
Black Friars, were those whose immoralities had 
given the greatest scandal, and they formed by far 
the most numerous body of the regular clergy. But 
to reform such abuses requires rather the enforce- 
ment of discipline by lawful superiors than the aid of 

1 Rym. ix. 809. 866. 808. 2 Rym. ix. 667. 

3 Note LIV. 

R 2 



244 HENRY THE FIFTH. 

new laws ; and, aware of this, Henry appears to have 

pursued a judicious course. Immediately after the 

Parliament called on his last return from 

May, 1421. . 

France, he repaired, with a very few attend- 
ants, to an assembly of the order held at Winchester, 
where there were present 60 priors and abbots, and 
300 monks; and he made a strong remonstrance 
to them against the neglect of piety and of moral 
duty which distinguished their monasteries. He then 
exhibited articles of reformation, which the Prelates 
he had consulted entirely approved, and he besought 
them to adopt these as obligatory for the rules of their 
conduct. Time, however, was given for discussion 

and deliberation : nor was it till the next 

1422. 

year that they were fully received at a 
provincial Chapter held for the purpose. The prin- 
cipal provisions were — restraining the extravagance 
of abbots by a kind of sumptuary laws ; requiring 
their attendance in the convent on the feast days, 
instead of passing their lives luxuriously in their 
manorial residences ; preventing their alienation of 
the conventual moveable property ; making the 
monks be paid in provisions, and not in money; 
excluding the company of women in their monas- 
teries, except mothers and sisters, and those only to 
be received in the public parlour ; and forbidding 
all resort to the towns on carnival occasions. No- 
thing can more plainly show the kind of lives which 
the heads of religious houses then led, than the 
tenor of these restraining rules ; and the feeble pre- 



HENRY THE FIFTH. 245 

cautions which they provide against abuses prove the 
height to which the evil had grown, as well as the 
powerful influence of the parties concerned. Absence 
from the convent on all but the festivals of the Church 
was still allowed, and an abbot might still be attended 
by a suite of as many as twenty horsemen. 



( 246 ) 



HENKY THE SIXTH. 



The Prince whose long and unhappy reign now 
claims our attention was not quite nine months old 
when the death of his father left him heir to the 
Crown of England in possession, and that of France 
as soon as Charles VL's nominal sovereignty should 
cease with his life. This event happened within a few 
Oct. 21 weeks of Henry's accession, and, unim- 
1422. portant as was the station which Charles had 
long filled, his death was attended with serious conse- 
quences. For the Dauphin causing himself to be pro- 
claimed was crowned at Poictiers, 1 as Pheims, the 
place allotted to that solemnity by the custom of the 
realm, was in the hands of the English; and the Poyal 
authority being no longer divided as it had been 
during the fatal dissensions of the family, the national 
feeling, directed to one Sovereign, heightened the 
popular favour which attended his arms, and increased 
sensibly the numbers of his adherents. 

Meanwhile the infant Henry was proclaimed King 
of France immediately after Charles's obsequies had 
been performed with the pomp which so often forms 

1 Mez. ii. 2. P. Daniel, vii. 10. Monstrelet, torn. ii. fol. 2. Lin- 
gard says Chartres erroneously. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 247 

a contrast at once mournful and ridiculous to the life 
of its subject. 1 The Duke of Bedford having, in 
compliance with his brother's dying request, offered 
the Regency to the Burgundian, assumed it himself 
on that Prince's refusal, and had now a full opportu- 
nity of reflecting upon the difficulties of his situation, 
as well as the great diversity in point of security 
between the two Crowns which had devolved upon 
his infant nephew. The vigorous administration of 
Henry IV. had consolidated his power, built though 
it was upon a weak foundation ; and the crimes of 
his usurpation had long been cast into the shade by 
the dazzling successes of his son. Even the defects 
in the Lancastrian title, by precluding any attempt to 
rule without the concurrence of Parliament, had 
proved so far favourable to the Royal authority that 
all dissensions between that body and the Crown had 
ceased ; and as considerable supplies had been easily, 
if not cheerfully, afforded to meet the expenses of 
the war, as could reasonably be expected from the 
scanty resources of the country ; so that the English 
dominions were placed in a state of peace and security 
which left nothing to be desired, at least by their rulers. 
It was far otherwise with the kingdom of France. 
Here the Regent found that he had to complete the 
conquest which his brother had only begun ; and 
though the provinces north of the Loire, including the 
capital, were in his hands, together with the authority 
derived from holding the government under the 

1 P. Daniel, vi. 567. Monstrel., cclxviii. 



248 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

Treaty of Troyes and decision of the States, the rights 
of Charles VII. were acknowledged by the greater 
part of the country south of that river ; his title, un- 
questioned by all but the Burgundians and the English, 
gave him both popular support and actual strength; and 
his troops, though rather inured to defeat than encou- 
raged by success, were so numerous and so well ap- 
pointed as to keep the field wherever the invading army 
endeavoured to assail them or to extend its conquests. 
In these difficult circumstances the first measure of 
Bedford, after assuming the Regency of France, was 
to obtain reinforcements from England; and with 
this view he found it necessary to settle the govern- 
ment of that kingdom. As he had formerly been ap- 
pointed Regent, or Guardian of the Realm, during his 
brother's absence, it was natural to expect that he, or, 
until his return home, his brother Gloster, should be 
allowed to fill that high office during the minority of 
the new King. We have no record of any steps 
taken to gain this object ; but we may conclude that 
the chief Lords and Prelates were approached by his 
emissaries in order to obtain their assent. We only 
know for certain that as soon as the late King's 
death was known, a number of the great Lords took 
upon themselves to issue a Commission in the infant 
Prince's name and under the Great Seal, authorizing 
the Judges, Sheriffs, and other officers, to perform 
their several duties, summoning a Parliament to meet 
in two months, and empowering Gloster to hold it as 
Royal Commissioner. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 249 

The Parliament accordingly met at Westminster, 
and the Primate addressed them in a Nov# 8 
speech or sermon, taking for his text the 2 * 

verse " The princes of the nations are assembled 
with God." After alluding shortly to the late King's 
great deeds, and at somewhat more length to the 
number six of the young King's title, as possessing 
all perfections, among others because God created 
the world in six days, he declared the purpose of 
the meeting to be, providing for the peace and defence 
of the realm and the care of the Sovereign's person ; 
and he recommended the advice of Jethro to Moses 
as worthy of being followed — to choose from all the 
people able men, fearing God, men of truth, hating 
covetousness (Exod. xviii.). 1 The first proceeding of 
the Parliament was to ratify and confirm the Com- 
missions which had been issued, among others the 
irregular summons of the body itself, on the ground 
of those proceedings having been absolutely necessary 
for securing the existence of the Government and the 
safety of the kingdom. 2 But when Gloster claimed the 
office of Regent or Guardian, both as being next heir 
to the Crown within the realm, and as having been 
named by the late King on his death bed, the Lords, 
after deliberating upon the matter, and consulting 
men learned in the law, probably the Judges, declared 
that no person could have any such right, either by 
inheritance as heir presumptive, or by appointment of 
the deceased Sovereign, whose power ceased with his 

1 Rot, Par., iv. 169. a Note LV. 



250 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

life, and that all claims of this kind were to be utterly 
rejected as derogatory to the rights of the Estates of 
the realm. With this opinion of the Lords the 
Commons agreed, and a statute was made l naming 
Bedford Protector, and in his absence Gloster, with 
the avowed intention of confining his powers to those 
ministerial acts which the defence of the kingdom 
and preservation of the public peace required, but 
denying all pretensions to share in the Royal autho- 
rity. A council of fifteen was appointed, consisting 
of peers, prelates, and commoners, in equal numbers, 
with Exeter, the late King's uncle, nominally to assist 
the Protector, but in reality to controul him ; for 
without their concurrence no act of his was to be 
valid. Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, with Exeter, 
was to have the care of the young King's person, in 
consequence of his father's appointment; for here the 
scruples of the lawyers appear to have overcome the 
Parliament's regard to constitutional rights, and the 
deceased monarch's will was suffered to govern upon 
a most important point, rather than allow the absur- 
dity of the infant Prince's passing an act to declare 
his own incapacity. 

Bedford, now acting as Regent of France by the 
title derived under the Treaty of Troyes, and ac- 
knowledged as well in the capital as in all the pro- 
vinces north of the Loire, had none of the difficulties 

1 Note LV. This Statute appointing the Council does not appear 
on the Statute Roll, nor does the Act ratifying the Commissions. But 
they "both had the assent of all the Estates. Rot. Pari. iv. 179. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 251 

to contend with which the jealousy of the Parliament 
raised in his brother's way. But the w T hole exercise of 
his great capacity was required to sustain the load which 
the late King's decease had devolved upon him ; and 
certainly it is not easy to find in all the history of 
those times a personage more entitled to our admira- 
tion, if superior talents alone are the object of applause. 
A genius ever fertile in resources ; a constancy which 
the most grave and unlooked-for disasters could not 
shake; courage and skill that rose with the emer- 
gency, and became the more conspicuous the more 
they were of difficult exercise ; these great qualities 
were joined to the prudence and circumspection which 
prevents either oversight or error, the self-command 
which forbids all entrance to selfish propensities when 
public duty must be performed ; and while the person 
thus endowed with talents and wisdom commanded 
the respect of all, his amiable disposition won the 
affections of those whom the more stern nature of 
Henry had chilled or repulsed. A master of the art 
of war as practised in that age, he was fully as re- 
markable for his political as for his military conduct ; 
nor would it be easy to discover a single particular in 
which his arrangements for meeting the difficulties of 
his situation could have been improved. It is painful 
to view the stains which, in the sequel, tarnished so 
bright a renown. 

He began by sending persons in whose zeal and 
ability he could confide to hasten the arrival of sup- 
plies from England : and the inroads of Charles's 
partisans soon showed how necessary such succours 



252 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

had become. No longer confined to the southern 
provinces, they crossed the Loire, attacked many 
places held by the English, and surprised several 
which were unprepared. They even penetrated as 
far as Normandy, and took Bernay, defeating an 
English force that marched to its rescue or recapture. 
They were equally successful in seizing upon La 
Ferte Milon, a town of some strength on the borders 
of Champagne, and held it until LTle Adam, whom 
Bedford had wisely released on his brother's death, 
collecting hastily a body of troops, retook it. But 
the loss which most grieved the Regent was that of 
Meulan, a strong place on the Seine, by commanding 
the navigation of which it cut off the river com- 
munication between Normandy and the capital — 
Normandy his only stronghold, and Paris where 
the Armagnac party divided the allegiance of his 
subjects. Accordingly he lost no time in preparing 
to regain possession of so important a post. The 
place had been surprised about the middle of Ja- 
nuary, and the siege to retake it was formed within a 
few days after. To interrupt these operations Charles 
made extraordinary efforts. He despatched the Con- 
stable Buchan and Count Aumale with a body of 
6000 men, which passed unresisted through the 
country between Bourges and Meulan, a clear proof 
what an imperfect hold the English had of their con- 
quests ; for the distance was not less than 120 miles. 
March l When this force came within sight of the 
1423. besieging army dissensions broke out be- 
tween the commanders, and the expedition returned 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 253 

into Berri without making any attempt to raise the 
siege. The garrison, disheartened at this untoward 
event, and not unnaturally indignant at being left to 
their fate, capitulated after a resistance of six weeks, 
upon the terms usually granted in those days, that all 
were to be spared except certain specified individuals, 
whose conduct had given particular offence to the 
conquering party. 

This important success enabled Bedford more 
effectually to take steps for improving his position. 
In order to draw closer the ties of alliance with the 
Burgundian, he negotiated for the hand of the Prin- 
cess Anne, his sister. Richemont, the Duke of 
Brittany's brother, one of the prisoners of Agincourt, 
but suffered to be at large, had broken his parole on 
the weak pretence that the death of Henry, to whom 
it was given, released him from his promise ; but 
instead of disputing this point, Bedford with great 
address turned the incident to account, ingratiated 
himself with Richemont by obtaining for him the 
hand of the Princess Anne's sister, and thus became 
nearly connected by marriage with the person whose 
influence he knew to be paramount at the Court of 
his brother, of late become wavering in his attach- 
ment to the English cause. A meeting of the three 
Princes was held at Amiens soon after the surrender 
of Meulan ; and a treaty of alliance was concluded 
between them, proceeding upon the recital of the pro- 
jected marriages, and professing to have in view, 
beside mutual defence, the promotion of the glory of 



254 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

God by relieving the people's distresses and driving 
away from the country ! the war that oppressed it ; a 
somewhat startling pretence on the part of three So- 
vereigns, one of whom had brought war into the 
heart of the kingdom, and maintained it with the 
help of the other two. 2 

The celebration with great pomp of the Eegent's 
nuptials at Troyes, and his consequent stay in that 
town, betokened in the eyes of the Parisians a dispo- 
sition to slacken in the prosecution of the war ; and 
that fickle people, 3 so lately the supporters of the 
English and Burgundian cause, secretly opened a 
correspondence with Charles, whose troops they were 
willing to receive within their walls. But Bedford, 
having intelligence of the conspiracy, hastened with 
his wonted promptitude to crush it ; and arriving the 
day before he was expected, entirely defeated the 
conspirators, severely punishing the ringleaders. 
Meanwhile the succours for which he had sent ar- 
rived from England, and he was enabled, beside 
taking the places which still held out in Maine and 
Ficardy, to despatch an army of 15,000 English and 
Burgundians, with the design of raising the siege of 
Crevant on the Yonne, a Burgundian town of im- 
portance, now closely invested by the troops of 
Charles. A fierce and obstinate engagement there 
took place, beginning with an unsuccessful attempt to 

1 " Abouter la guerre hors celuy royaume." 

2 Kym. x. 280. Monstrelet, tom. ii. fol. iii. 

3 Napoleon's well-known distinction between Parisian and French- 
man appears applicable in all periods of their history. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 255 

prevent the English from passing the river, and end- 
ing on the plain which it washes. Salisbury, the 
most renowned warrior of the age, and whom the 
chronicles describe as more resembling an old Roman 
than a modern knight, commanded for the Regent; 
and the Constable Buchan, with Severac, for Charles. 
The fate of the day, long in suspense, ended in the 
total defeat of the French army, with the loss of 
above 2000 men, and half as many prisoners, among 
whom were the Constable himself and Severac ; and 
many of the chief nobles of France were slain. 

It presents a singular picture of the times, that 
among the articles agreed upon between the English 
and the Burgundian allies at a solemn conference held 
in the cathedral of Auxerre before marching towards 
Crevant, we find a peremptory order commanding all 
to dismount on pain of death, and leave their horses 
half a league in the rear, and forbidding any one to 
take a prisoner until the fate of the day should be 
decided, under the like penalty of death to both 
captor and captive. The obvious design of the 
former article was to prevent the men from running 
away ; that of the latter was to control the thirst for 
plunder, always sought to be gratified by the demand 
of ransom : so closely intermingled with base fear 
and baser avarice were the feats of arms in those 
boasted days of ancient chivalry — those times of war- 
like honour, when " a stain was felt like a wound." 1 

1 The accounts vary as usual in regard to numbers. P. Daniel 
makes the French loss only 1200 (vii. 14). Monstrelet says 1200 of 



256 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

This victory enabled Bedford to drive the French 
from some towns which they still held in the northern 
provinces, and to prepare for carrying the war across 
the Loire. With this view he entered the country 
of Macon, and took several places in the rear of 
Charles's forces. The straits to which that Prince 
was thus reduced made him urgently apply to all 
his remaining allies. Some aid he received from 
Milan ; but his main reliance was upon the Scots, 
who, exasperated by the cruel and unjust detention of 
their Sovereign, as well as influenced by the ancient 
national grudge against England, sent a force of 
above 5000 men, under the Earl of Douglas. Bed- 
ford upon this had recourse to a measure the long- 
delay of which had manifestly been productive of 
serious iniury to his cause. He made 

1424. J J 

Gloster and the Council enter into a treaty 

for the deliverance of James from the captivity in 
which he had so long been held ; and in order the 
more to detach him from the French alliance, he pro- 
moted a match with the Lady Jane Somerset, cousin 
to the King, and niece of Beaufort, the Bishop. 1 

A considerable time now elapsed without any 
event of importance to the progress of the war. 
Many places of little note were taken from the Eng- 
lish by surprise, and soon after recovered. Com- 
piegne and Crotoy, towns of greater note, were also 

the Scots were killed and 400 taken captive (torn. ii. fol. 6). Hall 
absurdly makes the French loss 5000, and the English 2000 (p. 118). 
1 Rym. x. 293. 321. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 257 

obtained by Charles's troops ; but the fortune of the 
war was with the English, and north of the Loire 
their adversary had no footing. While he received 
the Scotch succours under Douglas, the Eegent was 
opportunely joined by a large reinforcement which 
Gloster sent, amounting by some accounts to 10,000 
men. Thus strengthened he undertook the siege of 
Yvry, a strong place on the Norman frontier ; and 
Charles, finding that it agreed to surrender if not 
relieved before the 15th of August, 1 sent a pow- 
erful army to its relief, under the Constable, who 
had been ransomed. It arrived too late : Yvry had 
fallen ; and Buchan moving suddenly upon Yerneuil, 
a frontier town of Maine, the inhabitants were 
alarmed at the prospect of a siege, and opened their 
gates in spite of the commandant and the garrison. 
As this was a more serious loss to Bedford than Yvry 
had been to Charles, he lost no time in marching to 
retake it ; and the two armies fought a pitched battle 
before the place, when the French were defeated 
with great slaughter. The impatience which had 
been so fatal at Agincourt again proved their ruin. 
Wise by that sad experience, the greater number of the 
French generals were unwilling to risk a battle which 
in the all but desperate state of their affairs might 
be their last ; but their able and experienced leader, 
Buchan, unfortunately joined with the other Scotch 
captains in deciding to try their fortune against the 
Eegent when they might have retreated with safety ; 

1 Feast of the Assumption . 

S 



258 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

and it was, after much consultation, resolved to await 
his approach. 

Bedford, eager to meet the great body of his 
Aucr. 17 antagonist's force, and to wipe out the 
1424# stain which he deemed that the surrender 
of Verneuil without a blow had left on the British 
arms, advanced with extraordinary alacrity to the 
fight. He drew up his army in a single line, each 
man-at-arms having, as at Agincourt, a shod stake 
planted before him, and the archers formed the two 
wings, except a body of 2000, who were appointed 
to guard the baggage and the horses of the dis- 
mounted men-at-arms. The Constable also, on his 
side, formed his men-at-arms, all dismounted, in a 
single line, with the horsemen on the flanks. His 
plan was to await the Regent's attack ; but it was 
disconcerted by the hot temper of Narbonne, who 
advanced prematurely, and forced the Constable to 
join in the onward movement. The cavalry having 
in vain endeavoured to attack the English in the 
rear, rushed on the baggage, and compelled the 
archers to quit its defence. The Lombard horse then 
engaged in the congenial occupation of plunder, and 
allowed the bowmen to retreat in good order, and 
join the main body of the army. The French, under 
their veteran commander, now made a desperate 
attack on the Regent's line, which it required his 
utmost exertions to sustain. Mounted on his bay 
charger, he flew about from corps to corps ; he was 
in every spot to be seen sharing the danger where 



HENRY THE SIXTH. - 259 

the fight waxed hottest, encouraging his men with 
cheerful talk, and bringing up fresh troops to supply 
the losses in his array. For a long time he could 
perceive no slackening in the enemy's attack; but at 
length he thought he could descry some faltering, 
and instantly he commanded his troops to advance 
with all possible rapidity. The movement proved 
decisive : the French, wearied and baffled, could not 
withstand the powerful impulse ; they fled in all 
directions. Of 18,000 men, between 4000 and 5000 
were left on the field ; but as at Agincourt the loss 
fell heavier in proportion upon the officers. Most of 
their generals were slain ; among them the Constable, 
Douglas, and his son, Aumale, Ventadour, Gravell, 
and that Narbonne whose temerity had so great a 
hand in occasioning the disastrous event. Alencon 
and other generals were among the prisoners. The 
Eegent, on his part, lost 1600 men; and a slaughter 
so unusual in the victorious army made him order 
that there should be no manifestation of joy to cele- 
brate a triumph thus dearly purchased. 1 The only 
solemnities performed after the battle were his return- 
ing thanks to Heaven in the presence of his officers 
assembled on the field of battle, and the less pious 
ceremony of having Narbonne's body hung upon a 
gibbet, as one of the murderers at Montereau. 

Verneuil surrendered immediately after the en- 
gagement, as did Mayenne, Marne, and other places 
in Maine. The affairs of Charles appeared to be 

1 P. Daniel, vii. 4. Hall, 124. Monstrel., torn. ii. fol. 12. 

S 2 



260 HENEY THE SIXTH. 

nearly desperate. His supplies of men were ex- 
hausted ; to no quarter could he look for more. His 
supplies of money were reduced to so low an ebb, 
that his table was in want of the most common 
necessaries. The Loire was the boundary of his pos- 
sessions ; and while to the north of that river he had 
no footing, Bedford was preparing to profit by his 
distresses and carry the war into the south, when a 
serious difficulty arose, the remote cause of those 
reverses which were, in any event, certain to have 
sooner or later changed the fortune of the war. 

The dissension which had long subsisted between 
Gloster and the Bishop of Winchester, afterwards 
Cardinal Beaufort, had now broken out in open hos- 
tility. The imprudent conduct of the former had 
entailed upon him the more formidable enmity of 
Philip ; and this led to an alienation of the Bur- 
gundian party, hitherto the mainstay of the English 
power in France. 

It is probable, and some have affirmed, that Beau- 
fort had encouraged the opposition which was made, 
as we have seen, by the Parliament to the title and 
authority of Regent being conferred upon Gloster. 
But it is certain that the exercise of the limited power 
granted to the nephew, and the guardianship of the 
young King's person held by the uncle jointly with 
Exeter, soon brought into an almost unavoidable 
collision two men whose ambition was the only point 
of resemblance in their characters — the indiscretion 
of the one being as likely to give offence as the pride 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 261 

of the other was to resent it. While the kindness 
of Gloster's disposition and the suavity of his man- 
ners, his courtesy towards equals, his affability to 
inferiors, formed a remarkable contrast to the stern 
nature and lofty demeanour of the haughty Prelate, 
it was observed that in their pursuits as well as 
their tempers the layman and the priest seemed to 
have changed places ; for while the spiritual Peer 
devoted himself to the amassing of wealth and the 
pursuit of power, the chivalrous habits of the age did 
not prevent the temporal Baron from devoting much 
of his time to the society of learned men, and of his 
patronage to their advancement. Although both 
were conspicuous for politic capacity, and for per- 
sonal intrepidity as well as moral courage, in genius 
for affairs and in boldness of design Beaufort appears 
to have outstripped his nephew. Firm of purpose, 
fertile in resources, unscrupulous in the choice of his 
instruments, unbounded in the confidence he accorded 
them, he must be regarded as one of the first states- 
men of his age, if he does not, after the Fourth and 
Fifth Henrys, stand at their head. Little disposed 
to waste his eloquence upon the ordinary topics of 
his sacred profession, while he left to others the fame 
of a great preacher, his rhetoric as well as his address 
was employed at the Council of Constance in further- 
ing the interests of the Anglican Church ; and his 
sagacity failed not to discover that his success on so 
great an occasion must prepare for him the way to 
the loftiest ecclesiastical positions. The promise of 



262 HENEY THE SIXTH. 

a Cardinal's hat and of the Legantine Commission, 
which he then received from Martin, he only deemed 
of importance as leading, first, to a large accession 
of wealth, and eventually to the Papal chair, the 
object of all his hopes, Notwithstanding his reputed 
avarice, the not unusual consequence of the Romish 
system, which, forbidding its dignitaries the enjoy- 
ment of riches in the endowment of a family, casts 
them upon the less natural desire of accumulating 
for accumulation's sake, he bestowed his vast wealth, 
which obtained for him the name of the " Rick 
Cardinal" in largesses, as well as in loans of unpa- 
ralleled amount to the Crown, and in munificent 
ecclesiastical foundations. But Gloster, who bore 
among his countrymen the more endearing title of 
the " Good Duke" enjoyed a degree of popular 
favour which neither his uncle's riches could gain, 
nor his own indiscretions could destroy. The Pre- 
late's life was unexceptionable, and his performance 
of ecclesiastical duties decorous; yet could he lay 
aside on occasions the crosier for the sword, and 
head ths more zealous portion of his flock in a cru- 
sade against the Bohemian heretics. That he was 
free from the vices in which the dignitaries of his age 
indulged cannot, perhaps, be affirmed, any more than 
he can be proved to have always kept the line so 
hard for aspiring natures to follow — the line which 
separates the steep and slippery, though straight* 
ascent of ambition from the devious path of restless 
intrigue. Pride, so unseemly in a Christian divine — 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 263 

love of money, so unworthy a man of parts — impa- 
tience of a superior, so apt to engender jealousy and 
revenge — care for worldly things, cherished in the 
hour of death, and betokening little of a devout spirit 
— these stains may be suffered to rest on his memory, 
and from these Gloster's is entirely free. The Car- 
dinal was neither much better, nor much worse, 
than the other Homish dignitaries of the fifteenth 
century, who, regarding the authority and the wealth 
of the hierarchy as the appanage of the aristocracy, 
thought less of the duties attached to it than of mak- 
ing its privileges the road to temporal power, and 
cultivated political arts rather than the learning, 
which they left to the studies of the humbler clergy. 
But if it would be wholly incorrect to regard him as 
even approaching to a faultless character, it would be 
far more unjust to believe the popular traditions by 
which his memory is blackened, in the dark portrai- 
ture which has reached us from the poetry of Shake- 
speare and the pencil of Reynolds. 1 

The dissensions of these two powerful rivals caused 
great embarrassment to Bedford, and mightily in- 
creased the difficulties of his situation, which the im- 
portant victory at Verneuil had seemed materially 
to lessen. But the imprudent conduct of his brother 
was attended with far worse consequences than the 
opposition of his uncle ; for it occasioned the estrange- 
ment of Philip, and even placed the Burgundian 
alliance in jeopardy. 

1 Note LVL 



264 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

Jacqueline of Bavaria, heiress of William, Count 
of Hainault, had been recognised also by the States 
of Holland as his successor in that country. To both 
these dominions she succeeded on his decease in 
1417. She had been married to the Dauphin John, 
who died a short time before his father; and she 
then married John, Duke of Brabant, a weak Prince, 
for whom she soon lost all respect ; and her contempt 
was changed into hatred when he refused to assist 
her against her uncle, John of Bavaria, who, claim- 
ing Holland as a male fief, invaded it, and threw the 
country into confusion. Her disgust towards her 
husband did not stop here. On pretence that her 
marriage was illegal on account of consanguinity, 
and that the Pope, Martin Y.'s licence having been 
first granted, then revoked, afterwards granted again, 
was not valid to cure the defect, she declared herself 
single, left the country, betook herself to England 
on a secret understanding with Gloster, who had set 
his affections both upon her person and her inherit- 
Marcli 8 ance, was naturalised by Act of Parliament, 

1423, and married him publicly, to the great 
scandal of the world, without awaiting the result of 
a new appeal to Pome for having her former mar- 
riage declared void. It unfortunately happened, that 
Philip, though equally related to Jacqueline and her 
second husband, the one being nephew and the other 
niece of his father, Jean-Sans-Peur, yet took part 
with the Duke, and joined the rest of mankind in 
being shocked at Jacqueline's shameless conduct. It 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 265 

is also certain that he regarded with jealousy Gloster's 

manifest designs upon the succession to Hainault 

and Holland, on both of which dominions the event 

proved that he intended himself to advance claims. 

Accordingly, he openly declared war 

Z , . Oct. 1423. 

against Gloster, who had soon after his 

marriage made preparations for supporting Jacque- 
line's rights to Hainault and Holland ; and when 
some months after he marched an army of 5000 
men into the former country, all measures were 
broken between the two Princes. The most violent 
persona] altercations were joined with their adverse 
military operations, insomuch that a challenge to 
single combat was given and accepted, and the duel 
was only prevented, after every preparation had been 
made for it, by the interposition of Bedford, to whose 
arbitration the dispute was submitted. This prudent 
ruler had in vain attempted to heal the breach be- 
tween the parties ; he had held a conference for the 
purpose with Philip, who most fairly offered to make 
him umpire ; terms had been agreed upon, and the 
Regent's award was pronounced ; but Gloster's fiery 
spirit would brook no control, and the war con- 
tinued until, seeing that all the towns "in Hainault 
took part against Jacqueline, he was obliged to return 
with his army to England and leave her in Mons, 
the only place that still supported her. Yet here, 
too, she was unfortunate ; for the people gave her up 
to Philip, who detained her in an honourable confine- 
ment at Antwerp. From thence she escaped, dis- 



266 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

guised as a man, into Holland ; and Philip maintained 
the war against her until her husband, John of Bra- 
bant's death, when she purchased peace by declaring 
the Burgundian heir to all her dominions. Mean- 
while, the Pope having pronounced her divorce void, 
and her marriage with Gloster invalid, even in 
the event of her second husband's decease, 1 he con- 
summated his imprudence by espousing Elizabeth 
Cobham, a person of rank much inferior to his own, 
and with whom he had carried on an intrigue while 
she was one of Jacqueline's attendants. Jacqueline 
herself married a person also of very inferior station, 
from whom Philip compelled her to separate because 
the match had not his previous consent, which the 
terms of their treaty required. 2 

All these transactions, for which Gloster alone 
was to blame, proved disastrous to Bedford. Not- 
withstanding the great pains which he took to prevent 
the alienation of Philip, the Burgundians and the 
English had become estranged from each other. 
They had, indeed, more than once met in hostile 
array during the contest for Hainault. A meeting 
had been held by Philip at Macon, for the purpose of 
negotiating a marriage between his sister, the Princess 
Agnes, and Clement de Bourbon, cousin to Charles, 
whose ambassador had even attended the conferences. 
The strength of the tie which knit the Burgundian 

1 The adultery with Gloster rendered any subsequent marriage with 
him invalid by the canon law. 

2 P, Dan., vii. 6. Rym., x. 298. Hall, in. 128. Monstrel., torn. ii. 
fol. xv. to XX. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 287 

to the natural enemy of his country became daily 
weakened, while the conflicting sentiments engendered 
by Gloster's indiscretion gained force ; and it might 
now be perceived that almost the only link which 
remained of the alliance was the personal ascendant 
of the Regent, and his constant study to maintain a 
place in Philip's affections. But the most imme- 
diate of the evil consequences which had attended 
Gloster's misconduct was the positive loss of numbers 
which it entailed upon the English army. The 
troops sent into Hainault on Jacqueline's behalf and 
those with which Philip prepared to meet them, were 
alike taken from Bedford's force by intercepting his 
supplies ; and he was under the necessity of repairing 
to England, in order, if he could not appease the 
quarrel between his brother and Beaufort, at least to 
prevent more of the English resources from being 
squandered upon the war in Hainault. A Parlia- 
ment was held, and by great exertions Gloster was 
prevailed upon to let his dispute with his uncle be 
decided by arbitrators chosen from among the Prelates 
and Peers. He brought forward charges against the 
Bishop, accusing him among other things of a design 
to assassinate the late King, a story resting upon some 
loose expression of that Prince, but nega- March 7 
tived by his whole conduct towards his 142 °- 
uncle down to the time of his death. The arbitrators 
decreed that Gloster should retract the accusation, 
which was pronounced by the Parliament to be 
groundless, and that, each party disclaiming all ani- 



268 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

mosity towards the other by making a solemn decla- 
ration to be recorded in- the Parliamentary Bolls, 
both should publicly shake hands in token of recon- 
ciliation. 1 It is stated by contemporary historians 
that the Council reprimanded Gloster for his opera- 
tions in Hainault, and refused him the further assist- 
ance which he required. It is also said that Bedford 
prevailed upon him to desist from this demand upon 
the duchies. 2 The Bolls, however, show that the 

Commons in the next Parliament, when 

1427. 

granting the subsidy for that year, stated 
their having regard to the helpless situation of the 
Duchess of Gloster, and expressed their hope that 
such aid might be given her as should consolidate the 
connexion of her dominions with those of England. 
This was declared to be an object which the Com- 
mons and their constituents had much at heart. 3 

But whatever support he may have derived from 
the English Parliament, it is certain that the conse- 
quences of this whole affair proved in the highest 
degree prejudicial to the English interests in France. 
A formal declaration of war had been made against 
England, owing entirely to Philip's quarrel with 
Gloster ; and though the Papal decision and his 
leaving Jacqueline to her fate had put a stop to 
hostilities, the coldness which succeeded between the 
two countries, while it crippled Bedford's operations, 

1 Eot. Par., iv. 296. 

2 Monstrelet, torn. ii. fol. xxi. xxiv. 

3 Rot. Par., iv. 319 : " To the singular comfort both of the Commons 
and of all those that they bene comyn froe." 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 269 

encouraged the Duke of Brittany to withdraw from 
his alliance. Thus the foundation of the reverses 
which afterwards so entirely changed the face of 
affairs was laid in the indiscreet and headstrong con- 
duct of Gloster. 

It may be doubted if in these circumstances the 
Regent acted wisely, when after much deliberation 
and with great reluctance he took the resolution of 
crossing the Loire and attempting the total reduction 
of Charles. The commonly received opinion is, that 
he was overruled by the counsellors whom he assem- 
bled to consider the subject; and it certainly derives 
countenance from the expressions used in a report 
to the Crown which goes under his name — "the 
siege of Orleans, taken in hand God knoweth by 
what advice." 1 But the acknowledged capacity and 
firmness of the man seems at variance with the suppo- 
sition that, in deciding so momentous a question, he 
could suffer himself to be overborne by the advice of 
his officers. In all probability he was aware of the 
difficulties which surrounded him, and of the formi- 
dable obstacles which they interposed to any offen- 
sive operation ; but he might justly consider that a 
state of inaction, while it could not remove them, 
exposed him to further risks of another kind, and 
especially to the danger of the national feelings rising 
up against the invasion, and the love of the people 
for their native sovereign reviving after the estrange- 
ment which faction and civil war had produced. 

1 Rym., x., 408. Note LYIII. 



270 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

But whatever may have beeii his doubt, or his 
dislike of the course which he finally resolved to 
take, his firmness and ability in pursuing it after the 
determination was once formed were such as might 
be expected from so accomplished a leader. He 

immediately marched a body of 10,000 

Oct. 1428. J . . 

men under Salisbury, who had just arrived 
with a reinforcement of about half as many from 
England. They passed the Loire and proceeded to 
form the siege of Orleans, when their victorious com- 
mander, in the act of reconnoitering the defences 
from a house in the neighbourhood, saw the flash of 
a gun pointing towards him, leaped aside to avoid 
the shot, but was mortally wounded by the frag- 
ments of mortar which the ball tore from the wall. 
The command devolved on Suffolk, an able though 
inferior captain. Bedford, soon finding the extent 
of the works so great as rendered it extremely diffi- 
cult to maintain the blockade, into which the siege 
was turned, detached considerable reinforcements 
to his assistance ; but as the spring approached 
the supply of provisions became scanty to the be- 
siegers as well as to the town itself, and a convoy 
was most anxiously expected under a strong escort 
commanded by Sir John Fastolf. The French, ap- 
Feb. 12 prised of this, despatched a powerful force 
1429, to intercept it ; and coming up with the 
English at the town of Bouverai St. Denys, a severe 
conflict ensued, called, from the provisions with which 
the convoy was laden, the Battle of Herrings. — 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 271 

Notwithstanding the great disparity of forces, there 
being above 5000 French and Scotch to little more 
than half the number of English, Fastolf gained a 
complete victory, killing above 600 of the enemy, 
-among whom were Stewart, Commander of the 
Scots, and other officers of rank, and arrived safely 
with his charge at the quarters of the besieging 
army. 

Several months were now passed, only varied by 
operations of trifling moment; but the want of provi- 
sions began to press sorely upon the town, and an offer 
was made of surrendering it to Philip rather than to 
Bedford. But the brunt of the contest having fallen 
upon the English, their commander thought himself 
entitled to reap the honour of the conquest, and refused 
the proposed capitulation, adding the flippant expres- 
sion that the " English were not people to beat the 
bushes for others to kill the game, or chew morsels 
for others to swallow." It seems difficult to reconcile 
this refusal with the uniform wisdom and temper which 
marked all Bedford's proceedings. Not only was a 
most important advantage over the enemy lost, at 
all events delayed and placed in hazard, but offence 
was given to an ally, and a breach widened which 
already existed to an alarming extent. Nevertheless 
the fall of Orleans seemed inevitable. The affairs of 
Charles appeared hopeless. Uncertain what course 
to take, and unable to decide between the conflicting 
opinions of his Council, some of whom were for a 
surrender and others for continuing the war, he now 



272 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

spoke of making a desperate stand, now of retiring 
into Dauphin e and endeavouring to retain some foot- 
ing in the south ; but seeing no glimpse of hope in 
any quarter, he was fain to shut himself up in his 
closet and give vent to his sorrow in tears, which 
only made him the more unequal to grapple with the 
perplexities of his situation. 1 To this state was he 
reduced when one of the most singular incidents re- 
corded in history brought him unhoped-for relief, 
occasioned a mighty change in the fortunes of the 
contending parties, and led to the ultimate discom- 
fiture of the invaders, for which the estrangement of 
the Burgundian had paved the way. 

Early in the month of February, 1429, at Vaucou- 
leurs, an Armagnac frontier town of Cham- 

Feb. 1429. . _ ° _ _ _ . 

pagne, situated on the Meuse, there presented 
herself before Baudricourt, the commanding officer, a 
young woman about nineteen years of age, with few 
personal attractions, though of expressive and even 
pleasing countenance, of humble station by her ap- 
pearance, yet of modest demeanour, robust in form, 
though of low stature, and of manly rather than femi- 
nine aspect. She represented herself as the daughter 
of one Arc or Arche, a peasant near the village of 
Domremy, some miles distant. She related how, 
having fallen asleep in a chapel or hermitage, 2 she 
had a vision from what she regarded as Divine 
inspiration ; professed her belief that she was chosen 

* Mez., ii. 10. P. Dan., vii. 56. 

2 Bergomensis, De Claris Mulieribus, cxli. 14. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 273 

by Heaven to bring about the deliverance of her 
country from the English ; and desired earnestly to 
have the means of obtaining access to King Charles, 
whom she undertook to succour so efFectuallv, that 
not only should the siege of Orleans be raised, but 
she should enjoy the gratification of seeing him 
crowned like his forefathers at Rheims. Baudricourt 
at first treated her as a person of unsound mind ; 
but when at a second interview she repeated her 
story, he so far lent an ear, without at all believing 
it, as to direct inquiries respecting her family and her 
previous life. He found that her account was strictly 
true in so far as its particulars could be examined ; 
that her parents, though in very humble circum- 
stances, were respected by their neighbours; that 
Joan, so their daughter was called, bore a character 
above all reproach, though, from accidental circum- 
stances, she had acquired masculine habits, which 
her great strength, as well as her taste, inclined her 
to affect ; and that she was of a somewhat enthusiastic 
cast of mind, though endowed with more than ordi- 
nary vigour of understanding. But, not satisfied with 
these justifiable precautions, he had recourse to a most 
reprehensible test for the trial of her virtue. Some 
of those under his command were desired to ad- 
dress her with proposals of an amorous description. 
To them she turned a deaf ear, and proved herself, 
if not absolutely above all temptation, at least so 
occupied with her supposed mission as to spurn every 
more grovelling pursuit. It appeared, too, that intent 



274 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

only on her visions, she had already refused the offer 
of a suitable match. The result of these inquiries and 
trials naturally and justly operated in her favour ; 
but the account often given l of her having declared 
that the Eoyal forces were sustaining a serious dis- 
comfiture at the moment she was addressing Baudri- 
court, and of intelligence some days after arriving of 
Fastolf s victory two hundred miles from the Meuse 
on the same day, appears to be wholly without foun- 
dation. Her amiable character and exemplary piety 
had gained her many friends ; and the visions 
which she had for some years described with the 
most entire belief in them, had easily obtained 
credit with her neighbours, ignorant peasants, in a 
superstitious age, so that a general feeling prevailed 
in favour of her suit to Baudricourt. He no longer 
hesitated to comply with her desire of an introduction 
to Charles; and, having equipped her as she desired, 
with men's clothing and armour, he sent her to Or- 
leans, in the company of two neighbours, the inter- 
mediate country being for the most part in the hands 
of the English. The journey was performed with con- 
siderable risk ; the district of Auxerre, wholly in the 
enemy's possession, was with difficulty traversed ; to 
avoid the posts on the bridges, it became necessary to 
swim their horses across several rivers ; but at length 
she arrived at Chinon, the King's head quarters. 
After much deliberation of the Council, who, learning 
the object of her expedition, dreaded the ridicule 

1 P. Dan,, vii. 57. Monstrel., torn, ii, fol. xxxv. 



HENEY THE SIXTH. 275 

which their belief in her visions might bring on the 
Eoyal cause, it was at length agreed that she should 
be presented to Charles. All the accounts agree in 
stating that he purposely placed himself among his 
courtiers, in a dress as well as a position which did 
not distinguish him from others, in order to try 
whether or not the Maid would discover him ; and 
that, singling him out, she at once went up to him, 
made her obeisance respectfully, but unabashed, and 
repeated her promise to deliver Orleans, as well as to 
see him crowned at Rheims. 

It is manifest that, even if she never had seen any 
picture nor heard any description of Charles, her 
acknowledged quickness of sight and judgment might 
perceive some of the courtiers among whom he stood 
giving place. But her finding him out was at once 
ascribed to supernatural agency. She was now sub- 
jected to an examination by doctors of theology, 
touching the source of her extraordinary gifts ; and 
she flung them into great admiration by the readiness 
and good sense as well as the simplicity of her 
answers. But she went further. She undertook to 
disclose her knowledge of a circumstance known only 
to the King himself, and revealed to her from above. 
That Prince agreed to declare how far what she 
should state was consistent with the fact, provided 
she gave her account in the presence of persons whom 
he named. To this condition she assented ; and 
before his Confessor and others he acknowledged it 
to be true as the Maid affirmed, that lately, when 

T 2 



276 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

reduced to extremities, he had besought Heaven 
either for safety from impending ruin, or for a secure 
retreat in Spam or in Scotland. 1 Though Charles was 
now convinced that she had a divine mission, yet, 
being resolved to do nothing rash in so important a 
concern, he required her to go before the Parliament 
then sitting at Poictiers. With some reluctance she 
consented ; and the result of a long and searching 
interrogation by the lawyers and churchmen was the 
establishment of a general belief in her miraculous 
powers and divine mission. 2 

It is of course manifest that if the Maid delivered 
all the statements which are related, and ascribed 
her knowledge of events to supernatural communi- 
cation, she only affords another instance of the 
facility with which imposture allies itself with enthu- 
siasm, so as to make zealots half believe the fables 
which they half invent, and to leave us always in 
some doubt how far they are the dupes, how far the 
contrivers of delusion. But those who give entire 
credit to the relations of that age, finding it impos- 
sible to explain such passages as the discovery of 
Charles's somewhat remarkable prayer, have had 
recourse to the supposition that he was himself party 
to a fraud which he conceived might be practised 
with success to raise the drooping spirit of his troops, 
or even quicken their loyal devotion by a belief in 
assistance from above. It certainly seems difficult to 

1 MS. Bib. du Roi, tat. Langlet, Hist, de la Pucelle, ii. 149. 

2 Note LVII. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 2?7 

avoid some such conclusion, unless we discredit por- 
tions of the story ; and the care with which the 
Maid's promises were promulgated, and all that 
concerned her made public, appears to favour the 
supposition of concert, while, on the other hand, the 
searching scrutiny to which she was subjected at 
Poictiers would lead to a contrary inference, unless 
we suppose that the leading men of the Parliament 
were in the secret of the plot. But whatever may 
have been the origin of this singular affair, and 
whatever the circumstances that accompanied its 
development, no sooner had Charles and his Court 
resolved to patronize the Maid and avail themselves 
of her agency, than they performed their part of entire 
acquiescence in her pretensions to a divine mission, 
and spared no pains to render her services effectual 
by clothing her with whatever respect could best 
secure her sway over the minds of men. 

She was immediately provided with a complete 
suit of armour, a charger, a squire, a page, and two 
valets. She desired that the armour should be that 
of a man. For a sword, she required that one should 
be brought her from the Church of St. Catharine de 
Fierbois, near Tours, describing it as having five 
small crosses near the hilt. Being asked if she had 
ever seen it, she said she knew such a sword was 
there. On sending messengers to the place, a sword 
was found answering her description, and it was 
given to her ; but she had been at the village, and in 
the Church of Fierbois, on her way to Chinon. She 



278 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

desired a banner to be made after the fashion di- 
rected by " her voices" as she called the supernatural 
communications she imagined she received ; it was of 
white silk, studded with fleur de lys, and had in the 
centre a figure of God holding a globe in his hand, 
with the Saviour and the Virgin supporting him. 
After it had been solemnly blessed in the Church of 
St. Saviour, this standard was always borne before 
her. She now made her appearance before the as- 
sembled court, fully armed, and mounted upon her 
charger, which she rode and managed with perfect 
ease, to the wonder of all the bystanders, who forgot, 
or perhaps had never been suffered to know, that 
she had for a short time been servant at an inn, and 
might have had some care of the strangers' horses. 

It was now resolved to try how far she had the 
means of performing her promises. She began by 
sending a formal summons to Bedford, announcing 
her divine mission, requiring him to raise the siege 
and quit the country, and threatening him with the 
displeasure of Heaven if he refused to comply. Her 
menaces were, as might be expected, laughed at by 
the English army, who regarded Charles as only 
showing to how desperate a state he was reduced when 
he placed confidence in the ravings of a mad- woman. 
A few days, however, sufficed to change their senti- 
ments, and to strike their minds with the superstitious 
awe that had seized the French — a feeling ever con- 
tagious among the vulgar, but especially in those 
days of ignorance and enthusiasm. The town being 



HENEY THE SIXTH. 279 

reduced to extremities for want of provisions, it be- 
came of the greatest importance to secure the arrival 
of a considerable convoy, which was then waiting at 
Blois for an opportunity either to pass or elude the 
besieging army. The Maid was detached to that 
town at the head of a large force, represented by 
some authorities as not less than 10,000 men. The 
first order she gave on arriving there was that the 
soldiers should all be confessed ; the next that all the 
women of bad fame who followed the army should 
forthwith leave it. She then marched from April 2 s 
Blois, and with so much despatch that the 1429 - 
convoy arrived in sight of Orleans on the following 
day. Dunois, who commanded, caused a well-timed 
sally to be made on the opposite side of the town in 
order to engage the enemy and cover the Maid's 
approach, who protected the operation of loading the 
provisions in boats, while the English, astonished at 
what they saw, did not venture to attack. This panic 
was regarded by the besieged as a new manifestation 
of divine favour, and tended greatly to increase their 
confidence. They wished the Maid to enter the town 
and undertake its defence ; and although her own 
desire was to remain in the open country, she yielded 
to their entreaties, was suitably lodged with a person 
high in office, and required that his wife and daughter 
should constantly attend her while in his house; a 
precaution which she always took when lodging in 
any town, having the protection of her brothers as 
often as she slept in the country. 



280 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

In a few days a second convoy from Blois ap- 
proached. To protect it the garrisons of the neigh- 
bouring towns were assembled. The Maid, attended 
by Dunois, sallied forth from Orleans at the head of 
such troops as could be spared from the works, never 
doubting that a formidable opposition would be 
offered ; but none whatever was attempted, although 
they passed in full day with colours flying before the 
English posts. They joined the convoy, and with it 
regained the town in safety. Another sally made by 
the besieged to attack one of the English towers was 
unsuccessful. Joan had retired to take some repose, 
and knew nothing of the movement. She no sooner 
heard of its discomfiture than she started up, met the 
flying troops, encouraged them by placing herself at 
their head, led them back to the charge, and the 
fort being speedily taken, all the English were put to 
the sword, or made prisoners. 

The confidence with which these operations in- 
spired alike the inhabitants and the troops was soon 
turned to account. It may be observed that, although 
the French commanders deemed it politic to make 
much of the Maid's gifts, they did not submit 
blindly to her guidance, and took care that she should 
always be attended by the most skilful of their own 
number. Thus she had insisted on the first convoy 
entering Orleans by the side of Beauce ; but as the 
besiegers were in great force in that quarter, Dunois 
stood firm to the more rational course of entering by 
Sologne, where comparatively few of the English 



HENRY THE SIXTH, 281 

were stationed. So likewise when, after the success 
of the former sally, she strongly urged the attacking 
another tower much greater in extent and far better 
garrisoned, Dunois insisted on taking the wiser course 
of assailing the lesser forts which commanded the 
communication with Berri. The more important of 
these were taken mainly by her assistance in heading 
the troops, and rallying whatever detachment hap- 
pened to be momentarily repulsed. On one occasion 
her advice was followed contrary to what appeared 
the more expedient course. It had been proposed to 
desist from the attack commenced upon the Tour- 
nelles, the fort that commanded the bridge ; she, 
quickly perceiving the enemy's fire to slacken, con- 
cluded justly that his ammunition was expended, and 
urged a renewal of the assault. The event justified 
her discernment, and the fort was taken, after great 
resistance, during which she received a wound in the 
neck : she quickly dressed it, staunched the blood, 
and regained her post at the head of the troops. The 
tower was carried with the loss to the besiegers of 
30 officers, and thrice as many men. 

Since offensive operations were renewed, while the 
French lost but a mere handful of their troops, the 
English loss amounted to six thousand, But a much 
greater calamity was their loss of courage and confi- 
dence in themselves. They could, by no efforts of 
their captains, be roused to anything like their former 
spirit ; they felt persuaded that Heaven had declared 
against them ; and they regarded themselves as 



282 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

engaged in a hopeless contest with supernatural 
powers ranged on the side of their enemies. In these 
circumstances Suffolk and his officers, aware of their 
force being now too much reduced to maintain the 
blockade, and also perceiving how little prospect 
there was of any reinforcements arriving to restore 
the confidence of their disheartened troops, deemed 
it advisable to raise the siege, and retire towards 
Beaugency, where, as well as in the neighbouring 
places, they still had respectable garrisons. This 
operation was effected, and Orleans relieved, after a 
siege of seven months. But the retreating army was 
closely followed ; the important town of Beaugency, 
the only post on the Loire which they retained, was 
taken, as well as several other places ; and a pitched 
June 18 battle was fought at Patay, in which they 
1429. were defeated with the loss of 2000 men. 
Encouraged by these auspicious events Charles 
now prepared to head his army in person. He ad- 
vanced to Gien, where large numbers of his barons 
joined him, leading their retainers, and serving at 
their own expense. He directed an attack on Bonnay 
near the Loire, and, having taken it with little diffi- 
culty, he even meditated marching on Paris. All 
was hope and confidence in his party, while the 
Begent was flung into dismay when he saw that his 
troops, so long accustomed to victory, had now lost 
all reliance on themselves. Cast down by a rapid 
succession of disasters, they no more exerted their 
wonted resolution, but gave way to despair under the 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 283 

impression which they seemed not to struggle against, 
that their conflict was with an enemy the special 
favourite of Heaven. 

So great a change in the fortunes of Charles, and 
so sad a reverse in those of his adversary, had the 
strange and romantic adventures of the Maid brought 
about ; a reverse which all just minds, however in- 
accessible to belief in her divine mission, must have 
regarded with heartfelt satisfaction as the due reward 
of patriot valour, and the condign punishment of 
unprincipled aggression ! 

Charles kept his little court at Chinon, and there 
the Maid was received with every distinction as the 
deliverer of France, and the lawful monarch's most 
powerful ally. She was admitted to all the councils 
of the commanders, and had constant access to their 
King, whom she earnestly urged to march upon 
Rheims that he might there celebrate the festival of 
his coronation. As most of the intermediate country 
was in the hands of the English, the general opinion 
inclined strongly against this course, and was in 
favour of first laying siege to several towns, particu- 
larly Cosne and La Charite on the Loire, above 
Orleans. But she insisted with such unusual vehe- 
mence upon immediately taking the route of Rheims 
that her opinion prevailed, seconded as it was by the 
reflection that her former promises had been so mar- 
vellously performed, and by the disposition to yield 
before the kind of mysterious nature w T hich shrouded 
her. It was, therefore, determined to attempt pro- 



284 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

ceeding towards the city consecrated by ancient usage 
to the inauguration of the French monarchs. 

As soon as this resolution became known, the 
Constable Richemont manifested an extreme desire to 
assist at the august ceremony, and reckoning on the 
promised good offices of Alencon and the Maid to 
bring about his reconcilement with Charles, prepared 
to join him. The secret enmity of Tremouille frus- 
trated this design, and he was forbidden to attend the 
court. In truth the condition which, upon Buchan's 
death, he had annexed, or had joined Philip in an- 
nexing, to his acceptance of the Constable's staff, the 
expulsion of Tanneguy du Chastel and Jean Louvet 
from Charles's councils, had never been forgotten ; 
and a new proof was thus afforded how insuperable 
are the difficulties of command to a feudal sovereign 
whose courtiers and councillors are a body of inde- 
pendent Princes, each supported by his own followers, 
and none willing to perform the duties or yield the 
submission of subjects. 1 

Charles now marched with his army of 12,000 
men by Auxerre (which he left unmolested on con- 
dition of its furnishing him with provisions) to 
Troyes, the capital of Champagne, where the gar- 
rison of Burgundians and English were forced by 
the inhabitants to treat for a capitulation. But the 
negotiation, after a week's delay, failed; and the 
army suffering extremely from want of supplies, the 
general voice required that Charles should retreat 
1 Note LX. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 285 

upon his resources. The Maid here interposed. 
She entreated him to persevere ; she engaged that 
by storm or by treaty the place should fall in three 
days. Having obtained his promise to allow this 
delay before he abandoned the enterprise, she used 
extraordinary exertions to encourage the officers 
and the men ; she made them bring up guns for the 
attack and fascines for the escalade *, T and she con- 
trived by going round the adjacent villages to obtain 
the supplies of food so much wanted. Meanwhile 
the fame of her exploits spread among the towns- 
folk ; her promises often fulfilled were cited with the 
exaggeration natural to such a topic ; her declara- 
tions of divine aid were repeated from mouth to 
mouth ; the wonders she had wrought, ascribed to 
such a cause, struck the minds of men with awe ; 
they could not refuse their belief to the heavenly 
ministry which she affected ; and thus the garrison, 
finding themselves overpowered by the inhabitants, 
yielded on the second of the three days, only stipu- 
lating for a general amnesty. Chalons on the Marne 
surrendered with much less resistance. The army 
advanced to Eheims ; and the ceremony of the coro- 
nation took place with as much pomp as 

i Sunday, 

the scanty attendance of nobles would July 17, 

1429. 

permit. 

1 Some writers reproach her as having planted mock guns in view 
of the town (Mez., ii. 15). But it is difficult to suppose that the 
townspeople should not see that these guns did not fire. The other 
accounts given are more probable, — that she planted small pieces which 
were found in the country. — P. Daniel, vii. 73. 



286 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

The Maid placed herself near the Royal person 
during the solemn service, clad in full armour, hold- 
ing her standard in her hand. At the close of the 
high mass she flung herself at Charles's feet, em- 
braced his knees, and bedewed them with tears of 
joy, as she thus addressed him : — " At length, gentle 
Prince, is accomplished the will of God, that you 
should at Rheims be worthily crowned in token of 
your being truly King, he to whom the realm per- 
tains." Charles expressed largely his sense of her 
signal services. She received from the nobles and 
the captains their compliments of congratulation ; 
their joy was mixed with astonishment when they 
now saw accomplished things the least of which they 
so lately had declared to be chimerical, and plans 
successful which they had but yesterday deemed 
the height of rashness. But the Royal gratitude was 
gracefully and appropriately testified by a decree 
immediately pronounced exempting Domremy, the 
Maid's native village, for ever from all kinds of aids, 
taxes, and tribute — a decree twice afterwards con- 
firmed by Charles himself, in 1459, and by Louis 
XIII. a century and a half after. Her family were 

ennobled, but not till later in the year : 
Nov. 1429. „ ! ■ . , n i -i 

all, both male and female, were raised to 

rank; the name of De Lys was conferred on them 
instead of D'Arc or D'Ay, and although the fe- 
male branches were afterwards excepted 
from the former decree by a new ordinance, 
the males of the family were ever afterwards noble. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 287 

The effects of the solemnity at Eheims soon be- 
came apparent. No one ever pretended that the 
authority of the monarch in France depended upon 
his coronation, or was in any degree derived from 
that august ceremonial ; yet all have observed its 
powerful influence in striking the minds of the 
people with reverence, and making them bow more 
submissively to the anointed representative of royalty. 
Accordingly, no sooner did intelligence of the pro- 
ceedings at Rheims reach the surrounding country, 
than Soissons, Laon, Chateau-Thierry, and other im- 
portant towns of Champagne acknowledged Charles ; 
and Bedford became seriously alarmed at the daily 
improvement in the aspect of his adversary's fortunes. 
The conduct of that great man, alike remarkable in 
civil as in military affairs, presents at this time a 
singular union of all the qualities which were most 
required by the extraordinary difficulties of his situ- 
ation — firmness, presence of mind, boundless fertility 
of resources, entire devotion of himself to the per- 
formance of his duties, and an absolute forgetfulness 
of every selfish feeling or personal interest. He first 
sent to Philip an embassy, conducted by persons of 
the greatest consideration, inviting him to Paris, 
where he desired to confer upon the position of their 
common cause. It was his happy fortune to succeed 
so far, that the Burgundian, though longing to treat 
with Charles, yielded to the Regent's authority, and 
repaired to meet him. Then in order to counteract 
Charles's intrigues with the Parisians, he carefullv 



288 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

circulated detailed accounts of the assassination at 
Montereau, by which he also gained the advantage of 
rendering more difficult any accommodation of Philip 
with one notoriously accused as the murderer of his 
father. He obtained from England a timely supply of 
4000 men under the Cardinal ; and, leaving a mode- 
rate garrison at Paris, he inarched to Melun with an 
army of 12,000 men. Charles met him there and 
offered battle, but the advantage not being sufficiently 
clear on the English side to authorise risking it, the 
offer was declined. Bedford having chiefly desired 
to show his force, retired towards Paris, and 
Charles, against the Maid's earnest remonstrances, 
retired in the opposite direction. Bedford again 
marched as if to meet him ; and always chose his 
position so as to leave no possibility of an attack. In 
these and other marches of a like description, his 
object was closely to watch his adversary, and avail 
himself with his unbroken force of any error, any 
false move he might make — without giving the least 
opportunity of himself becoming the assailant — for he 
well knew that a defeat must prove far more fatal to 
the English than it could be to the French. 

At this juncture, had Charles been able to press 
the war against Picardy, in all likelihood Amiens, 
Abbeville, indeed the whole province would have fallen. 
But he was about to attempt a negotiation of the utmost 
importance — nothing less than effecting a reconcile- 
ment with the Burgundian, who was then amicably 
disposed, and who must have been at once driven back 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 289 

into hostility, if such a conquest had been made in the 
vicinity of his own states of Artois. Bedford, however, 
was alarmed by the exposed state of Picardy, and has- 
tened thither with all the troops he could spare from 
Paris, whither Charles immediately marched, took the 
suburb of St. Denys, and laid siege to the fort of the 
Gate St. Honore. In reconnoitering and sounding the 
ditch there, the Maid was wounded ; nor do any au- 
thorities express a doubt that the officers treacherously 
withheld from her the knowledge they possessed of its 
depth. St. Denys was then retaken, and Charles, 
after showing during the attack an indo- 
lence which was alleged to partake of 
timidity, marched back towards Melun. 

His negotiation with Philip now proceeded so 
favourably that a personal interview took place, 
and everything seemed on the point of being ar- 
ranged. But the fortune of Bedford again prevailed, 
or rather the ascendant which he possessed over 
the Burgundian, and the contrivances he resorted 
to for retaining him in his interest, were an over- 
match for any means which Charles had of detaching 
him. He was induced to visit Paris at this critical 
juncture. Every engine was there set to work for 
regaining his entire confidence. The priests were 
set on him to dwell unceasingly upon the tragedy of 
Montereau, and warn him against ever being knit in 
the bonds of fellowship with its actors. The com- 
manders whom he had sent with some supplies to the 
English army were promoted to distinguished stations. 

u 



290 HENKY THE SIXTH. 

Bedford pressed upon Philip the Regency itself, re- 
fused by him on Henry's decease, and induced him to 
accept it for some months, that is, until the following 
Easter. He further promised him Champagne and 
Brie, to be holden as fiefs of the English Crown. 
To the Duke of Brittany he promised Poictiers : and 
though all men clearly saw that these promises cost 
him nothing, inasmuch as they extended only to 
dominions which were in Charles's possession, yet 
both the Burgundian and the Breton princes were 
mightily affected by them, and the negotiation with 
Charles was reduced to a truce from September to 
Christmas, and regarded only the province of 
Picardy. 

At this time it happened that the good feeling 
towards Bedford in Paris became considerably les- 
sened by the successes of Charles, and the want of 
supplies both in men and money so often promised 
from England. The emissaries of Charles failed not 
to work upon the discontent which they saw increasing 
in every direction. The Begent had notice of com- 
munications observed to be maintained between the 
capital and Charles's head quarters. He had all 
travellers carefully watched, and a friar being stopped 
and searched was found to be the bearer of treason- 
able intelligence. A clue was thus obtained to the 
conspiracy which had been formed; many arrests 
were made ; a great number of executions followed ; 
and, though terror was thus struck into the adherents 
of Charles, the odium which such severity excited 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 291 

against Bedford had an unfavourable effect upon his 
cause. 

While these things were passing in the capital, the 
disturbed state of the country tempted the Duke of 
Savoy to make a treaty with the Prince of Orange 
for seizing upon an important portion of the French 
territory between the Alps and the Ehone. The 
Duke was to have Grenoble and the mountainous 
portion of Dauphine ^the Prince was to have Vienne 
and the adjoining district. 1 But Gaucourt, who 
commanded for Charles in those parts, suspecting 
the design of the two confederates, made a sudden 
attack on the Prince of Orange with a body of nobles 
whom he induced to take the field mounted, and a 
still more efficient band of those freebooters who were 
then the terror of the country. The unexpected move- 
ment proved perfectly successful. Possession was 
taken of the whole principality, and the Prince himself 
only escaped by dashing into the river and swimming 
across that rapid torrent. The good offices of the 
Pope and King of Sicily (Count of Provence) re- 
stored peace between the parties, and Charles gave 
the Prince back his dominions on condition of his 
serving against the English. 

But by far the most important event to either 
party during this campaign happened at the siege of 
Compiegne, which Suffolk and Arundel formed with 

1 These Princes apparently resolved to possess themselves of what 
now forms the great department of the Isere, having half a million of 
inhabitants. 

u 2 



292 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

a considerable portion of the English army. The 
Maid having headed a sortie with 600 men, and 
being pressed by the Burgundians who opposed her, 
was compelled to retreat towards the gates, but not 
before she had performed prodigies of valour. She 
continued from time to time facing about and encou- 
raging her men to make head against their pursuers ; 
but, overpowered by numbers, she was forced to fly 
in order to regain the town ; her horse fell ; she 
was thrown to the ground ; and being surrounded she 
surrendered to Lionel, a bastard of Vendome. It is 
by some authors affirmed, that the jealousy of the 
French captains, which continually broke out, showed 
itself fatally on this occasion ; for Guillaume Flavey, 
the commandant of the place, is said to have closed 
the gates and prevented her when pursued from 
reaching the shelter she sought. Certainly the treat- 
ment she received afterwards at the hands of those 
whose cause she had rescued from destruction, would 
justify any such suspicion as rests upon Flavey 's 
May 23, memory. But whatever opinion we may 
1430. form on this point, there is no doubt that 
Vendome the captain, under sanction of the barbarous 
practices adopted in those days of chivalry, sold 
his prize to John de Luxemburgh ; and he soon 
after, likewise for a price, made her over to the 
English. 1 They, regarding her fall as the most 
signal success that could attend their arms, caused it 
to be celebrated as a victory by a solemn Te Deum 

1 G000 livres and 300 a-year rent or annuity was the price. 



HENEY THE SIXTH. 293 

and other marks of rejoicing at Paris and elsewhere. 
It is urged, in extenuation of the Burgundian's bar- 
gain, that a few days before, Franquet, a partisan 
of great valour and high reputation, having fallen 
into her hands overpowered by superior forces, near 
Lagny, she had caused him to be beheaded on the 
spot, to the general horror of the army. 

No sooner was the Maid in their power than Bed- 
ford's officers had her closely confined, and loaded with 
irons, treating her, not as a prisoner of war, but a 
malefactor. After carrying her about from gaol to 
gaol, they proceeded to try her for heresy and sorcery. 
The University of Paris, ever outstripping in obse- 
quious flattery all the rest of Bedford's parasites, re- 
quired that she should be delivered over to the spi- 
ritual arm, well aware that this was exactly the course 
most agreeable to the Regent. Then P. Cochon, 
Bishop of Beauvais, a mere tool of Philip, claimed 
to have jurisdiction in the cause, on the ground of 
her having been taken within his diocese. He ac- 
cordingly was allowed to preside, and he was assisted 
by several other prelates, French and English, Car- 
dinal Beaufort being at their head, and known as her 
most determined adversary. He was further suffered 
to consult the University on any question of casuistry 
that arose ; it is needless to add, that the determina- 
tion in all these cases was given against the unhappy 
prisoner. For sixteen days did this mockery of a 
trial last, during which she displayed the most won- 
derful acuteness as well as presence of mind ; and 



294 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

she was then condemned as a heretic, excommuni- 
cated, and delivered over to the secular arm. When 
the sentence was read on the scaffold, she interposed 
with an abjuration recanting her declaration of divine 
aid, and promising not again to commit the offences 
charged upon her. The execution of the capital part 
of the punishment was then suspended, and she was 
condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and to be fed 
on bread and water : — " The bread of woes," said the 
sentence, " and the water of anguish." 

A part of her recantation was to abandon male 
attire, her principal offence having been the wearing 
that dress, "a thing abominable before God," says 
Henry VI. in his letter to the Duke of Burgundy. 
Cast into prison upon the remission of the capital 
punishment, she was suffering under all the weariness 
of solitude and inaction, so intolerable to one of her 
former habits ; her armour was laid in her way, and 
the poor girl, unable to resist the temptation of in- 
dulging the tender recollections which that garb 
raised in her sad mind, was observed to put it on by 
the spies who lay in wait to pounce upon her. The 
door of her cell was thrown open ; the keepers pre- 
sented themselves ; she could not deny the venial 
breach of promise ; and it was at once resolved by 
her judges, acting under the advice of the Uni- 
versity, to carry the whole of the sentence into ex- 
ecution. She was treated as a relapsed heretic, and 
preparations were immediately made for burning her 
alive. She was put to a lingering death in the square 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 295 

opposite the church of St. Ouen at Rouen by this 
cruel punishment. The agony of her torments ex- 
torted from her a fresh recantation, her former one 
having been withdrawn. She expired 30 May, 
clasping the crucifix to her bosom, and 1431, 
invoking the Virgin instead of the saints on whom 
she had been wont to rely. 1 

The pious credulity of her countrymen supposed 
that many miracles attended her last hours. Her 
soul, in the form of a milk-white dove, was seen to 
rise from the funeral pile as she gave up the ghost. 
Among her ashes, cast into the Seine, her heart was 
found entire and unscathed by the fire. Subse- 
quently, almost all her judges and prosecutors were 
affirmed to have died violent deaths ; while constant 
prosperity accompanied her family and her towns- 
folks. 

This is truly a painful passage of history, and the 
rather that so many persons are necessarily the ob- 
jects of severe censure ; for it must be confessed that 
a deep stain is left upon the memory of every party 
to the execrable proceeding. That Bedford should 
have suffered his feelings of revenge so far to master 
his sense of justice and his cooler judgment of what 
sound policy prescribed, as to condemn a French 
subject, never in allegiance to his sovereign, for an 
offence of which his judges and prelates could not by 

1 P. Daniel, vii. 93, 98. Mezer., ii. 17. Monstrel., torn. ii. fol. 
xlviii. liv. Henry YI.'s letter, above referred to, gives the English 
account of the whole proceeding. It is in Monstrelet, torn. ii. fol. liv. 



296 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

possibility have any cognizance, seems hard to com- 
prehend; but that a great captain should have 
treated as an offender, a prisoner of war, taken in 
open fight by the fortune of war, and over whom the 
fortune of that war alone gave him any power what- 
ever, seems wholly inconceivable. For conduct 
which nothing can vindicate, his alarm at the im- 
pression made on his superstitious soljdiery by a 
belief in her divine mission may perhaps account, 
though it cannot even soften the blame which every 
honourable mind at once pronounces upon it. If 
indeed, as some have asserted in his defence, he sacri- 
ficed her against his better judgment to the popular 
fury, then truly must his guilt be greatly aggravated 
in the eyes of all who have ever turned away, with 
indignant scorn, from the well-known spectacle of a 
judge washing his hands of the blame when he had 
suffered lesser criminals to perpetrate the offence. 

But Charles can hardly be said to have shown 
himself less worthy of reprobation. He who owed to 
the Maid his crown, possibly his liberty or his life, 
made no effort to rescue her from destruction by ran- 
som, none to save her by threatening reprisals on the 
English captains in his power. It does not appear 
that any, the least, pains were taken by this ungrate- 
ful Prince to avert or to stay her fate. When, 
twenty-five years after her murder, her family ex- 
erted themselves to obtain an examination of the 
case, with a view to reversing the judgment, he 
favoured their proceeding; and the See of Eome 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 297 

pronounced sentence, relieving her memory from the 
imputation of heresy. But this was the extent of 
Charles's gratitude towards his illustrious deliverer. 
Whether it was that she had, during the operations 
which succeeded his coronation, shown less than her 
former determination, and been less fortunate in the 
fights she bore a part in, or that Charles became 
weary of hearing her praises, and impatient of each 
success being ascribed to her, or that the whispers of 
his jealous officers against her found too easy access 
to his ear, certain it is that, without the least struggle, 
he suffered a deed of atrocious injustice to be perpe- 
trated, which a firm resistance must have prevented. 
At the height of his fortune, in great part the result 
of her services, he suffered her family to languish in 
penury, her mother supported by a weekly dole 
among the poor of Orleans. No sovereign ever owed 
a greater debt of gratitude to a subject than Charles 
owed to the Maid — no man ever proved himself more 
ungrateful to his benefactor. 1 

The hopes which the English, possibly the Regent 
himself, had indulged of a change in the fortune of 
the war upon the capture of the Maid, soon ended in 
disappointment. The loss to their adversaries proved 
far less considerable than they had dreaded. The 
enthusiasm on the one side, the panic on the other, 
had for some time been gradually subsiding, and 
giving place to more sober feelings upon which 
Charles could with greater confidence rely. Retain- 
1 Nate LIX. 



298 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

ing the devoted attachment of his own subjects, he 
saw Bedford's becoming daily more averse to the 
English ruler. The provinces occupied by his troops, 
even Paris itself, the centre of the Burgundian influ- 
ence, seemed to awaken from the delusion under 
which they had so long laboured. The dupes of 
unprincipled intrigue and their own violence, to de- 
feat a rival faction they had welcomed a foreign 
master, and they found the yoke of the conqueror 
as heavy as the disgrace of the subjection was galling. 
The necessities of the war made imposts unavoid- 
able ; those burthens, and the state of the country, 
laid waste by its operations, and especially by the 
merciless bands of freebooters, deserters and dis- 
banded from the armies, were evils inseparable from 
long-continued hostilities, but these were caused by 
the invasion. Then the English took no pains to 
mitigate the pressure of such grievous injuries by 
the courtesy of their demeanour. Their rudeness, 
their harshness, their overbearing insolence, their 
sense of superiority ever obtruded and proclaimed 
as anxiously as by others it is suppressed or disguised, 
were universally and sorely felt. To the people over 
whom they held dominion, they were unbearable ; 
but even by those with whom they were acting as 
allies, it might be as fellow-soldiers, they were 
scarcely more patiently endured. Nay so great was 
the hatred of them that it extended to the Scots, 
because they spoke the same language, and came 
from the same country, although engaged in making 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 299 

war upon them for the deliverance of France from 
their yoke. A contemporary historian, the familiar 
friend of Charles, 1 assures us that the French, at the 
battle of Verneuil, beheld the entire destruction of 
their Scotch auxiliaries with such delight as consoled 
them for that great defeat ; yet the Scots were the 
strength of the Armagnac army, and their com- 
mander was a Scot, who led them at Beauge to the only 
victory they had ever gained against the English arms. 
Bedford had long perceived the fatal effects of the 
feelings which thus generally prevailed, and which, 
far from yielding to the influence of time, became 
daily more intense, connected as they were with the 
people's real interests, which every hour's reflection 
showed had been sacrificed to personal and party 
animosity. In some places the inhabitants had risen 
upon his troops when detachments reduced their 
numbers ; or the gates had been opened by stratagem, 
in concert with the forces of the enemy ; or con- 
spiracies had been discovered on the eve of accom- 
plishing their purpose, and new plots been formed 
daring the exemplary punishment of the detected 
parties. The disposition of the Parisians themselves 
had become as hostile as they ever were friendly 
before, and it seemed as if their ostentatious pre- 
ference of the Burgundian was less to favour Philip 

1 Amelgard of Liege (Leodensis), Hist, de Rebus Gestis a Carolo VII. 
Francorum Rege, lib. ii. cap. 4, MS. ; ap. Sismondi xiii. 36. M. Sis- 
mondi justly praises Amelgard, but omits the important fact of his 
intimacy with Charles, which the historian himself has stated in the 
beginning of his work. 



300 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

than to mortify Bedford. His habitual disregard of 
all selfish considerations when the public service was 
concerned, had made him without a moment's hesi- 
tation consent to press the Regency upon his ally ; 
but he is known to have felt acutely the University, 
the Parliament, and the citizens of Paris in concert 
pressing upon him a step which confined his high 
office to the province of Normandy, and made Philip 
governor of the realm. Nor can we doubt that he 
was equally chagrined at finding the whole proceed- 
ings against the Maid openly reprobated by the 
Bourguignon party, who extolled her valour, and 
even inclined to believe in her mission. The zealots 
of the English party alone took their side against 
her ; and it was Bedford's lot not only to see that 
these were few, but to feel that the general indig- 
nation was just. 

He now conceived that some benefit might result 
from performing the ceremony of the young King's 

coronation, he having been crowned at 
1431. 

Westminster the year before, as Charles 

was at Rheims. But it was found impossible to hold 

the festival at that place, appointed by the ancient 

usages of the monarchy, as the intermediate country 

was partly in possession of the Armagnac forces. 

The conflict, too, of the rival parties under the 

Cardinal and Gloster prevented the obtaining of the 

needful supplies for so expensive an attempt. The 

ceremony was therefore performed at Paris ; and its 

effects were the reverse of what had been expected. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 301 

The people felt mortified at the spectacle of their 
King crowned by a foreign prelate, his uncle, in a 
place where no such solemnity had ever p ec 16j 
before been witnessed, not a single Prince 1431 * 
of the Blood present, the Duke of Burgundy himself 
declining to attend, with the concourse of hardly any 
nobles, and very few persons of distinction other than 
that derived from their rank in the English service. 
But the inhabitants of the capital felt still more the 
losses of their traders from the scanty attendance 
even of the classes accustomed to flock thither on 
great occasions, and the disappointment given to the 
hopes of the shopkeepers, the propensities of the mul- 
titude, and the vanity of all, by the extreme parsi- 
mony which governed all the arrangements. It was 
observed, too, that for the first time at a coronation 
no gifts were sent to the Hospital, no prisoners set 
free, no promise made of relief from general or local 
imposts. The grant to the University of exemption 
from taxes, only heightened the discontent of the 
community at large ; and the privileges confirmed and 
even extended to the city by a Royal Ordinance only 
benefited the wealthier classes, while the distress of 
the poor was so great, that a second edict was issued 
to prevent uninhabited houses being sold for the pur- 
pose of using the beams, doors, and window frames 
as firewood. 

The greater part of the discontent which was mani- 
fested, connected itself with the invasion, or with the 
disregard of the people's usages and habits, and 



302 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

therefore with the subjection of the country to a 
foreign yoke ; nor is there any attendant upon that 
calamity which is more certainly calculated to make 
its pressure be severely felt. The Ordinance did not 
in all probability lessen the general dissatisfaction by 
the studied phrases in which the King extolled the 
city of Paris, thanked the inhabitants for maintaining 
their loyalty and affection to his person amidst all 
their sufferings from the war, and declared his in- 
tention to treat his good town of Paris as Alexander 
had Corinth, and the emperors Kome, by making it 
his principal residence. 

It is probable that this document was prepared on 
D ec 2 his entrance, when he had been well re- 
1431. ceived, and when the arrival of the nobles 
and other dignitaries was expected. Certainly the 
intention thus expressed appeared so little to be seri- 
ously entertained, that he quitted Paris almost im- 
mediately, and returned to Rouen, his residence 
during twelve months. 

There can be no doubt that Bedford now regarded 
the prospect of retaining the footing he then had as 
not only uncertain but gloomy, of extending it over 
the rest of the country as desperate. He seems to 
have wisely determined that all his efforts should be 
confined to maintaining the possession of Normandy, 
in the hope of its being confirmed to England at a 
general peace. Beside establishing the court at Rouen, 
he founded a college at Caen, which afterwards became 
one of the greatest universities of France. But he 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 303 

took far more effectual means of strengthening English 
influence in the Duchy. The complaints so loudly 
and so justly made of the want of protection to life 
and property in the other provinces, where the 
troops were never employed against the bands of 
freebooters, and often found joining in their devasta- 
tions, did not extend to Normandy. There all means 
were used to repress violence, and make the peace- 
able inhabitants secure. Trade was encouraged by 
the enforcement of the late King's excellent edict 
forbidding the levy of toll, or anything under pre- 
tence of toll, by public functionaries, upon goods 
carried from place to place. A determination to 
enforce the laws was shown in all the departments of 
the administration ; and the college, which has been 
mentioned as founded by Bedford, had for its object 
the teaching of civil and canon law, for which purpose 
it was judiciously made independent of the Uni- 
versity of Paris. 

The view of his position in France which sug- 
gested this course was not by any means too despond- 
ing. His only remaining chance of success depended 
upon the continuance of the Burgundian alliance, the 
commencement of which had alone made the con- 
quest a possible event. But the course of submitting 
to England, pursued under the influence of the Bour- 
guignon party, was not more unnatural in the French 
than in Philip, though it wanted the excuse of his 
resentment against the authors of his father's death. 
Nor was the union of the two crowns in the English 



304 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

monarch more contrary to the interests of France 
(and of England too) than to those of a Burgundian 
prince, who must have lost even the shadow of inde- 
pendence in the neighbourhood of a monarchy so 
enormously extended. The personal feelings under 
which he had so long acted, and which the quarrel 
with Gloster had weakened, began to give way 
before the sense of what his own safety and that of his 
dominions required. Charles spared no pains to court 
him in every way, and particularly to soothe those 
feelings. Acknowledgments, apologies, expressions of 
deep concern, protestations of innocence, affirmations 
of his powerless condition at a tender age in the hands 
of others, promises of pursuit and vengeance against 
the guilty, as well as pious foundations for the victim 
- — these were the assurances unsparingly made to the 
son, while the prince was to be won over by lavish 
offers of release from feudal subjection and the cession 
of considerable territories. Against the influence thus 
exerted Bedford's only hold was in the honourable 
feelings of Philip, and the relationship of brother-in- 
law through the Duchess Anne. Those ties, with the 
offer of the Regency two years before, had 
prevailed over the attempts of Charles in 
the negotiations at Compiegne. But this intercourse 
had since the coronation been renewed ; it had ended 
Sept 8 m a two years' truce ; and there imme- 
1431 • diately followed the significant absence of 
Philip from that solemnity. He had, however, very 
fairly given such previous indications as left no doubt 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 305 

of his determination to retire from the war. He had 
sent a formal remonstrance both to the Council in 
London and to the Court at Rouen, the burthen of 
his complaint being the inadequate exertions of 
England, which threw upon him the whole weight of 
the contest. It was well known that his subjects had 
always disapproved of the alliance, and that his nobles 
and States had refused their oaths to the Treaty of 
Troyes. The position in which he found himself 
between his interest, according with his duty to his 
people, on the one hand, and his feelings of honour 
towards Bedford on the other, was the source of great 
pain to a man whose nature had gained for him the 
appellation of " The Kind ;" and he is said to have 
exclaimed immediately before the remonstrance, on 
receiving the tidings of his infant son's death, "Would 
to Heaven it were my own ; I should deem it a 
blessing !" — These details respecting the approach of 
the Burgundian alliance to its close are of great im- 
portance both for their bearing upon the judgment 
which we may pronounce on Bedford's conduct, and 
for the evidence which they afford that the failure of 
the invasion was not accidental, but inevitable. 

During these two years nothing of any moment 
occurred in the field. Some places of little account 
were taken on either side ; but the allies suffered 
much more in being forced to raise the siege of Com- 
piegne than they gained by any other advantage. 
The truce did not prevent the Burgundian troops 
from occasionally acting with Bedford under the cover 

x 



306 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

of the operation being his- and not theirs, the object 
of the soldiers in both armies being indeed the same, 
rather to plunder the country than press the objects 
of the war, which was carried on with diminished 

April 20, spirit and little success. In the following 
1432. y ear Q nar ^ res was taken by surprise. A 
friar, the favourite preacher of the place, had in league 
with the Armagnacs collected all the inhabitants and 
most of the soldiers at a great display of his gifts, 
while a body of Charles's troops contrived to enter in 
the disguise of waggoners conveying goods to the 
traders of the town, who also favoured the King's 

An*. 10 party. Some time after the allies were com- 
1432. pelled to raise the siege of Lagny, before 
which they had lain for three months. But an event 
soon followed which put an end to all hope of the 
alliance continuing even in name or in form. The 
Duchess of Bedford died after a short illness, and 
the influence which alone had of late maintained it 
was at an end. Within six months the Duke married 
again ; and the object of his choice was Jacquetta of 
Luxembourg, daughter of Count de St. Pol, and 
niece of Therouanne, Bedford's Chancellor of France 
— a match which Philip represented as giving him 
great displeasure, both because he had not been con- 
sulted, and because, St. Pol being his vassal, his con- 
sent ought to have been asked. Bedford has been 
generally blamed for this step, as if it had put an end 
to the alliance by causing the estrangement of his 
brother-in-law ; but it seems certain that it only at 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 307 

most gave Philip a pretext for the course he had 
resolved to pursue more openly, now that the last 
link which bound him was broken by his sister's 
death. That Bedford should have sacrificed great 
public interests to his personal views or feelings is a 
supposition repugnant to the whole course of his life ; 
and if he may be thought to have shown too little 
respect towards his ally in the manner of his pro- 
ceeding, surely we are far too ill-informed of all its 
details to pronounce an opinion upon such a point. 
The Burgundian plainly availed himself of the breach 
of feudal etiquette to make out a case of grievance 5 
for as to the second marriage being contracted so soon 
after the first wife's decease, in the families of princes, 
especially in those times, such matches were far from 
being uncommon. The fact undoubtedly is that the 
alliance had long come to its natural close. Formed 
originally in direct opposition to the public duty of 
one party, and to his own true interests, it had been 
continued by the influence of personal feelings ; when 
those feelings no longer acted, there was an end of the 
connexion, and of the accident which alone had ever 
given a chance of success to the English invasion. 

The operations of the war seemed now to have 
terminated with the virtual dissolution of the alli- 
ance ; and as Charles could gain little by a renewal 
of his negotiation with Philip, nothing was done for 
some time towards a formal and final settlement, 
which, it was believed, might include England as well 
as Burgundy. But after some discussions at Nevers, 

x 2 



308 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

which, together with the courtesy shown by Philip in 
several movements of his troops, showed that the 
difficulties on his part would be easily surmounted, a 
general congress, under the mediation of the Pope, 
Eugenius IV., who had expressed the greatest anxiety 
for restoring the peace of Christendom, was 
appointed to be held at Arras in the en- 
suing autumn. A few months before it assembled 
Bedford had made a short stay at Paris, and found 
proofs of the increased animosity towards the English 
which pervaded all ranks and each party now that 
the estrangement of the Burgundian was known. 
The war languished meanwhile. Some inconsiderable 
actions only were fought; and chiefly against the 
freebooter bands. These were a collection of the 
scum of all nations, but principally French and 
English from the armies, embodied under captains of 
courage and skill ; they were known by the name, 
in which they gloried, of Ecorcheurs or flayers, as, 
after wasting the country by their pillage, they 
tortured the inhabitants to obtain ransom or the 
disclosure of their effects, or murdered them in brutal 
revenge when they found that all had been swept 
away by other hordes. Oftentimes in such force as 
to undertake extensive operations, they seized whole 
villages, and even drove the people from open towns 
to take refuge in fortified places. In one of these 
expeditions the English were worsted with the loss of 
Arundel, eminent among their best generals, and 
other distinguished officers. The capital itself nar- 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 309 

rowly escaped being sacked by a formidable body of 
those ferocious wretches, who were driven to des- 
peration by the dread of the approaching negotiations 
putting an end with the war to their execrable trade. 1 

Whether from declining health, or from despair of 
bringing to a successful conclusion the great affairs 
committed to his charge, certain it is that Bedford 
no longer displayed the same energy — at least in 
his proceedings he did not show the same activity — 
which had marked the former periods of his life. 
But he remained at Rouen, repairing occasionally to 
Paris when any pressing exigency demanded his pre- 
sence ; and he left the administration of the English 
government to the Council, which was divided and 
paralysed by the conflict of the parties under the 

Cardinal and Gloster. The King him- 

1434. 
self, only in his thirteenth year, was in the 

hands of whichever of the two for the time obtained 
the ascendant. Yet his character had already begun 
to unfold itself, so that a fair estimate might without 
difficulty be formed both of his capacity and his dis- 
positions ; and already he evinced some desire, on 
certain matters at least, to share in the deliberations 
of the government. Possessed of very moderate 
abilities, rendered still more slender by a morbid 
indolence which disinclined him alike to cultivate 
and to exert them, he was wholly without firmness 
and resolution whether on great or on trifling occa- 
sions ; and he thus seemed fashioned to be the tool 
1 Note LXVIL— 01. de la Marche, liv. i. ch. 4. 



310 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

of whatever designing persons might surround him, or 
the sport of the caprices of those who had no designs 
to compass. But his nature was eminently kind and 
gentle, as it was invariably honest and open ; his 
abhorrence of violence and fraud was alike strong, 
and so habitual that it seemed constitutional ; his 
piety was unobtrusive, but exemplary even in a reli- 
gious age ; his amiable disposition was testified in 
constant benevolence and kindness, the only virtues 
which in this world receive their full reward, by the 
love they inspire and the gratification they impart ; 
while his manners, if not brilliant like his uncle's, 
or graceful like his father's, were uniformly mild and 
inoffensive, and won for him the affections of all who 
approached his person, as much as Charles's showy 
accomplishments with his condescension and good 
humour commanded admiration and esteem. It was, 
indeed, rather with Charles's father that men were 
led to compare him than to contrast him with Charles 
himself, from marking the similar fate which attended 
the two unhappy monarchs, of their reason being 
clouded over at various periods of their disastrous 
reigns. But although pity for the French prince's 
misfortunes continued his place in the public favour, 
after the recollection had passed away of the affable 
deportment and splendid figure which once made him 
popular, there was even in the form of the English 
sovereign's malady a. gentleness, a patient submission, 
an entire harmlessness in thought, and word, and act, 
that formed a mighty contrast to the murderous fury 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 3 1 1 

with which Charles's original seizure had been signa- 
lised, and which occasionally recurred until his im- 
becility was confirmed. 

Henry's mother, Catherine of France, had a short 
time after his father's death married a 
subject, Owen Tudor, and the care of the 
infant's person had very properly been transferred 

first to the Lady Boteler, and then to the 

1428 

Earl of Warwick : he complained of flat- 
terers having in the young king's eleventh year in- 
stilled into his mind notions of his rank and station 
inconsistent with a due submission to the tutor's 
authority, and required from the Council a power of 
naming all the household, and preventing access of 
others to his royal pupil. The request was complied 
with. But flatterers can no more be excluded from 
the palace by closing its doors than any other pesti- 
lence engendered by corruption within its walls : they 
again found their way to Henry, and in his four- 
teenth year he repeated his claim of being 
allowed to attend the meetings of his 
Council. They answered, that " although God had 
endowed him with as great an understanding as they 
had ever seen in any prince or in any person of his 
years," yet that it was safer for both himself and the 
kingdom that he should be wholly guided either by 
the Parliament or by themselves. 1 It was a striking 
and an affecting circumstance, showing the amiable 
nature of Henry, that he mainly desired to interfere 

1 Rot. Pari., iv. 438, 



312 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

in mitigation of the punishments inflicted by the law ; 
and when some years after he renewed his 
claim, the Council satisfied him by a reso- 
lution that he should exercise the power of pardoning 
and of collating to benefices. He was also to decide 
when the Council happened to differ, and did not 
come to a determination by a majority of more than 
two-thirds. 

The divisions under the factious conflicts between 
the Cardinal and Gloster would have sufficed to ruin 
all chance of retaining the French conquests, if that had 
not been already desperate, independently of English 
affairs : for, instead of the unity and vigour which the 
conduct of such a war peculiarly required, the Council 
wavered continually between the two parties, the Car- 
dinal's being wisely bent upon peace at any reasonable 
price, the Duke's upon continuing the war at all 
hazards ; and though in general Beaufort, while he 
could attend in person, had the advantage, from his 
prudence, his long-sighted sagacity, his command of 
temper, and his thorough knowledge of men as 
well as his long experience in dealing with them, 
he was yet obliged more than once to absent himself 
from England when the clamours against him, from 
accidental circumstances, aided the violence of his 
nephew, who on other occasions also obtained a tem- 
porary ascendancy. So that whether the war should 
be prosecuted with vigour or suffered to languish 
depended less upon the wise counsels and fixed deter- 
mination of the Regent, who was carrying it on, than 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 313 

upon the balance of parties and the accidents that 
might from day to day vary it, among those who, in 
his unavoidable absence, had the government in their 
hands. But the fate of the war had been virtually 
decided with the termination of the Burgundian 
alliance, of which so many circumstances indicated 
the approach, even before his Duchess's death, and 
of which that event, and the fixing of negotiations for 
a general peace, left no longer any possible doubt. 
Upon these negotiations all men's hopes rested ; they 
were the object of intense anxiety in every part of 
Europe, long since worn out by the cruelties and de- 
vastations of the war, and now weary of a contest of 
which the mischiefs remained, while the interest had 
died away as its active operations ceased. 

At length the Congress met. It was Auo . 5> 
attended by the ambassadors of the Emperor 1435, 
Sigismund, the Kings of Arragon, Castile, Navarre, 
Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Sicily, Naples, the 
Dukes of Milan and Brittany, and four Legates from 
the Pope, the mediating power. Philip appeared 
in person, attended by many of his nobles and knights. 
The English Embassy was composed of 200 Lords 
and Knights under the Archbishop of York and 
Earl of Suffolk ; it was afterwards joined by the 
Cardinal himself. The Regent remained at Rouen, 
confined to his bed by severe illness, and appears to 
have taken no part in any of the proceedings. The 
Embassy from Charles consisted of above 400 per- 
sons, some of high rank, with the Constable Bourbon 



314 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

at their head. There were. brought together from all 
parts upwards of 10,000 strangers, and more than 
500 personages of dignity and importance. 

Philip had frankly apprised the English Council 
of the previous negotiations at Nevers, adding that 
the Pope had released him from the oath which 
fifteen years before he had taken to abide by the 
Treaty of Troyes. Henry had upon this intimation 
addressed his inquiries to Rome, and received for 
answer that no dispensation from any lawful obliga- 
tion was ever given ; an answer which seemed to leave 
no doubt of the Burgundian's assertion being cor- 
rect. 

Interrupted only by the tournaments and other 
festivities which in that age attended all gatherings 
of the people for what purpose soever, the negotia- 
tions lasted seven weeks. The offers made by Charles 
to the English were such as in the posture of their 
affairs they had no right to expect — the cession in 
perpetuity of both Normandy and A qui tain e, as well 
as Calais ; and this was refused. The Cardinal and 
his colleagues, having before their eyes the dread of 
the war party in the Council and in the country, 
headed by Gloster, would listen to nothing but the 
uti possidetis, which would have left England in pos- 
session of Paris and the Isle de France. But they 
also objected to a peace, and proposed a long truce, 
and the marriage of Henry to a daughter of Charles, 
as if to insult the French with the recollection of the 
ruin and the dishonour which had accompanied the last 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 315 

nuptials in the royal house. These propositions were 
indignantly rejected ; and the Embassy left Arras 
some weeks before the Congress broke up. 

Every one plainly perceived that the English were 
the cause of the negotiation failing; and as their 
whole conduct from the beginning of the invasion had 
been universally disapproved, the reprobation that 
fell upon them was now mightily increased. The Bur- 
gundian, on the other hand, won general favour. 
His unfeigned reluctance to break with his ally by a 
final separation, could with great difficulty be over- 
come by the pressing entreaties of the mediators, and 
the other ambassadors. He still had scruples re- 
specting his oath ; and various doctors, Roman, 
French, and English, learned in the civil and canon 
law and skilled in casuistry, were consulted by him, 
most of whom declared that he was not bound. But 
he was apprehensive that the Papal dispensation, 
which the Legates had plenary powers to renew in 
the amplest form, might not satisfy the exigencies of 
his duty as a knight ; and though the French and 
Roman doctors gave a clear opinion that he was 
released, those of England held him still bound, 
While he remained in a state of hesitation, his doubts 
were ended by the intelligence arriving that Bedford had 
breathed his last ; and on the 2 1 st of Septem- gept M? 
ber he signed the Treaty, considering the last M35 - 
tie which bound him to England against his duty to- 
wards himself and his own people as severed by his 
brother-in-law's decease, and soothing his irritation 



316 HENEY THE SIXTH. 

with the fancy that his promise bore some personal 
relation to Henry and Bedford, both no more. The 
terms which he had obtained were in all respects advan- 
tageous to him, and somewhat humiliating to France. 
Charles, beside pronouncing a solemn censure upon 
the murder of Jean-sans-Peur, offering an ample 
apology for himself as of tender years and under the 
control of others, binding himself to pursue with the 
utmost rigour those whom Philip might charge with 
the offence, 1 and engaging to found convents and 
chapels, with daily mass and requiem for the de- 
ceased's soul, ceded in perpetuity the counties of 
Macon, Auxerre, Peronne, and other places, with all 
the towns of the Somme, Tournay excepted ; and 
freed the Duke and his states from all feudal homage 
and services. 

The peace of Arras diffused the greatest joy over 
the whole of France, and caused the utmost discon- 
tent in England. The price was heavy at which 
Charles had most wisely purchased the inestimable 
advantages of immediately confining the operations of 
the war to his English enemies, and ultimately driving 
them from the country. But all parties, Bourguignons 
as well as Armagnacs, and the people still under 
the nominal dominion of England, as well as those 
under his own, cheerfully agreed to the terms by 
which he had obtained a fair prospect of terminating 
miseries that equally affected all. The English, 
removed from the scenes of the war, and who had 

1 He immediately named Tanneguy, Louvet, and two others. — 01.de 
la Marche, liv. i. ch. 3. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 317 

never suffered or even witnessed its calamities, re- 
garded the loss of the Burgundian alliance, and that 
of their French conquests, certain in itself, and pro- 
bable to all appearance, as prejudicial both to their 
interests and their honour. The envoy whom Philip 
sent to announce his signature of the treaty was 
slighted by the Council, refused an audience of the 
King, and only saved by the military from the ven- 
geance of the multitude, who rose upon the Flemings 
and other foreigners in London, maltreating all they 
could find, and even putting some to death. It must 
be confessed that a more disreputable passage is not 
to be found in the history of any nation than the 
conduct alike selfish and foolish of our countrymen 
on this occasion. Alone of all mankind, they and the 
Robber-bands were indignant at the Burgundian for 
having given peace to his own subjects, placed the 
same blessing within the reach of England, and left 
France free to shake off a foreign yoke imposed by 
the accident which had converted a predatory in- 
cursion into a conquest. Surely, if any people are 
bound by every obligation of principle and of feeling 
to be the unflinching advocates of peace, it is they 
who, placed by happy accident at a safe distance 
from the scenes of war, can only know the worst of 
its countless horrors, its intolerable miseries, in the 
song of the poet whom they do not believe, or the 
page of the historian whom they do not heed. 1 But 

1 The contemporary writer already referred to (Amelgard, lib. ii. 
cap. 1) affirms that the whole country, naturally of extreme fertility, 



318 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

the short-sighted folly of the nation was as signal as 
their want of right feeling. The most advantageous 
offers had been rejected by their representatives at the 
Congress, because, though the head of the embassy was 
also the chief of the peace party, he manifestly did 
not venture to accept terms against which the clamour 
at home would have enabled his unreflecting and 
impetuous rival to work his immediate destruction. 
Thus the last chance of retaining any portion of the 
conquests so dearly bought and so fondly cherished 
was thrown away, and the multitude, utterly and 
necessarily ignorant of the whole subject, as well its 
details as its principles, upon which they undertook 
to pronounce a judgment, carried their own sentence 
into execution, as they fancied, against their ally — in 
reality, against themselves. 1 

On the restoration of peace the Burgundian was 
treated by Charles with the greatest cordiality, and 
he desired to remain on amicable terms with England 
also. But the party of Gloster had obtained the 
mastery ; they rejected his friendly offer of mediation 
with Charles, and were resolved that the alliance, the 
dissolution of which had so enraged them, should be 
succeeded not by neutrality, but by war. The 

from the Sornme to the German frontier, a distance of 200 miles, was 
converted into a perfectly uncultivated desert, covered with thorns and 
brush-wood, and in some places thick forests, without a single in- 
habitant remaining in many districts. In other parts of France the 
natives had been driven into the woods for shelter from the armies and 
their overflowings, the Bands, when the fortified towns were so encum- 
bered with refugees from the country that thej could admit no more. 
1 Note LXIIL 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 319 

Flemish vessels were stopped on the high seas, and 
rifled ; the malcontents in Philip's towns were excited 
to sedition and revolt ; the Emperor was urged to 
declare against him ; and a plot to seize one of his 
principal fortresses by stratagem was accompanied 
with an open attack upon a small body of his forces 
near the Flemish frontier. These senseless proceed- 
ings, which only served to display ill humour, drove 
him to hostilities. He marched an army to besiege 
Calais, and though he was obliged to retire in conse- 
quence of a mutiny among his troops, his move- 
ment compelled Gloster to hasten with a 

• t p -r. i t i i June, 1436. 

large force to its relief. -But he had also 

at the commencement of hostilities sent considerable 

reinforcements to Charles, who was thus enabled to 

carry on his operations more effectually in the Isle de 

France. 

To succeed Bedford in the Eegency, Gloster's 
party, which was then preponderant, had appointed 
Eichard, Duke of York, son of the Earl of Cam- 
bridge, executed for the conspiracy against Henry V. 
at the beginning of his reign, and now representative 
of the elder branch of the royal family, whom the 
Lancastrian usurpation had set aside — a prince of no 
mean capacity, distinguished for his bravery, but of 
an irresolute and feeble character ; indiscreet, fickle, 
and obstinate by turns, so that his errors were by the 
French ascribed to haughtiness and presumption, 
while in England they passed for the result of open- 
ness and good humour ; wholly devoid of the pru- 



320 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

dence and wary circumspection which, joined to his 
singular firmness, had enabled his predecessor to 
maintain a hold over the conquered country when 
surrounded by such complicated difficulties. While 
the distracted councils of the English Regency, and 
the official forms in completing his appointment, 
detained him above half a year from his government, 
he committed the great indiscretion of removing the 
Chancellor Therouanne to make way for an English 
favourite, and thus alienated the House of Luxem- 
bourg at a time when the loss of all other support 
made its countenance of peculiar importance ; but the 
popular party, which had clamoured for war with the 
Burgundian, in all probability regarded this breach 
with Luxembourg as equally politic. 

Long before Richard arrived at Rouen, Paris had 
fallen. Though Willoughby, the Commandant in 
the Regent's absence, had carefully kept from the 
people all information of the proceedings at Arras, 
by degrees the defection of Philip became known ; 
and there was at once an end of all hope that any 
part of the Parisians would longer endure the English 
authorities. Their troops were few, and recourse was 
had to the most violent measures in order to supply 
by means of terror their want of numbers. For a 
short time the discontent was thus prevented from 
breaking out in open revolt ; but, as Willoughby 's 
forces diminished, the exasperation of the people in- 
creased under the cruelties hourly exercised, and 
gave them courage to assemble, especially in those 



HENEY THE SIXTH. 32 1 

parts of the town where the Burgundian party had 
the greatest hold. They conveyed information to 
Charles's lieutenants, held a communication with them 
which led to the assurance of a general amnesty, and 
opened one of the gates, through which a sufficient 
force was admitted to drive the English from every 
part of the town. The greater number of Charles's 
troops were of the Robber-bands (the ecorcheurs), 
and the Constable had no little difficulty to prevent 
them from sacking the place, which, on hearing the 
bells announce its surrender, they regarded as an 
operation that followed of course. Willoughby and 
his army retreated into the Bastille to negotiate for 
terms ; and they capitulated on condition of being 
suffered to retire unmolested. They embarked for 
Rouen with some few of the inhabitants who chose 
to accompany them, in distrust of the promised par- 
don. They were followed by the insults and execra- 
tions of all the rest, being marched round to pass 
through a gate opening upon the fields, in order to 
avoid the violence of the people. They took refuge 
in the Duchy ; they had no French subjects in con- 
nexion with them, save some few who apprehended 
that their conduct during the occupation made it 
dangerous to remain under the power of Charles's 
officers. And thus the English possessions in France 
extended but little beyond what the terms offered 
at Arras would have secured — Normandy, Guienne, 
and Calais. 

The surrender of the capital with the entire con- 

Y 



322 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

sent, and, indeed, the active co-operation of the in- 
habitants, and the general restoration to Charles of 
his people's affections in the provinces of which the 
English yet retained possession, may be deemed the 
virtual as it was the natural termination of the con- 
quest. The war still languished for many years, and 
the invaders were not driven from the country ; first, 
because of those indolent habits which Charles had 
not yet shaken off; and afterwards because of the 
necessity under which he found himself of bending all 
his efforts to establish peace and order in the country, 
and extirpate the freebooters who laid it waste. But 
the probability is, that he felt less inclined to make a 
final arrangement with the English than he had done 
at Arras, the capital being now in his hands, and his 
adversary having no longer in his service or his 
alliance any French subjects, save a few of no import- 
ance and desperate fortunes. He perceived, on the 
other hand, in the English, once so averse to peace, a 
sudden and vehement desire for it, produced by the 
loss of Paris, and retreat into Normandy — a change 
very usual in the popular feeling, sometimes termed 
opinion, which is apt first to drive the country into 
hostilities against its best interests, and soon to force a 
negotiation when, perhaps, the war ought to be con- 
tinued for the interests well understood of peace itself. 1 
But he must have plainly seen that unless he agreed 
to leave them the Duchies, no accommodation was 
yet possible ; whereas, by a little delay until he should 

1 See Note LXIII. 



HENKY THE SIXTH. 323 

have succeeded in restoring order and quiet in his 
dominions, and acquired the important advantage of a 
regular army, a continuance of the English power in 
those two provinces would become impossible, and he 
might gain the benefit of peace without any concessions. 

The war, however, continued to be carried on, 
though with great languor, and confined almost en- 
tirely to those districts ; it was carried on, too, with 
various success. Nearly the whole of Normandy 
was overrun by Charles's forces, every town but 
Caudebec being at one time in their possession ; but all 
were without any exception retaken, and the hostilities 
on both sides seemed reduced to predatory incursions. 
Similar occurrences on a smaller scale took place 
in Guienne. But for about fifteen years after they 
had abandoned Paris, the English had possession both 
of the northern and the southern province. 

When the issue of the conquest was in suspense, 
the progress of the invader's arms, and the measures 
taken to oppose him, became interesting, even in 
their more minute details. To recount the alternate 
capture and loss of towns when the fate of the war 
had been substantially decided, would be at once 
wearisome and useless. Great valour and conduct 
were displayed on many occasions, and the renown is 
still fresh in men's recollection of Talbot, who main- 
tained his rank as the first of English captains in that 
day, and kept the field when past his eightieth year. 
Possibly, greater exertions made on the part of 
England, had the councils been less distracted by 

y 2 



324 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

faction, and latterly by the commencement of the 
civil war between the Two Roses, might have warded 
off, for a few years longer, the blow which Charles's 
great improvements in his system of internal admini- 
stration had prepared. If it be so, this cannot be set 
down as among the mischiefs produced by those civil 
broils ; for, assuredly, all the expense of blood and of 
treasure occasioned by such exertions would have 
been absolutely thrown away. 

The entire reconquest of Normandy was effected, 
with scarcely any reverse during its pro- 

1450. gress, in about a year ; that of Guienne in 

1451. another, with the exception of the Bordeaux 
1453. district ; and two years later Bordeaux was 

also taken. Of all the possessions upon 
which so much had been squandered of wealth and 
life, and the more important part of which had been 
for three centuries vested in the Crown of England, 
none remained save only the town of Calais — a con- 
summation over which reflecting persons, be they 
philanthropists, or statesmen, or philosophers, can 
certainly in no wise mourn. 



The improvements in the manner of administering 
the constitution, rather than any change in its struc- 
ture, produced by the infirm title of the Lancaster 
Princes, and especially in the reign of Henry V., have 
been already adverted to. The most important of 
these were the constant reliance upon Parliament 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 325 

alone for supplies, and the practice of consulting 
it on other matters, even those more immediately 
connected with the prerogatives of the Crown. 
In both particulars the succeeding reign confirmed 
and extended the usage : Parliament was more fre- 
quently appealed to, and upon subjects more directly 
touching the rights of the Sovereign. This arose 
from the long minority of Henry VI., his feeble 
character, and occasional incapacity, the constant 
dissensions of the Princes, whose influence was not 
very unequally balanced, and the embarrassment 
produced by the Regent's necessary absence from the 
realm. All these circumstances ensured a consider- 
able accession of importance to the two estates which 
were under no disability and had no difficulties to 
struggle against. 

The appeal to Parliament, however, was not 
always made in the same manner, or rather it was 
sometimes made to the body at large, and sometimes 
only to the Lords. But a distinction seems to have 
been taken between matters on which the latter, from 
their functions of judges and counsellors, might seem 
the appropriate advisers ; and matters which affected 
the rights, the liberties, and the property of the com- 
munity. Thus when Beaufort and Gloster quar- 
relled personally, and the nephew preferred charges 
against the uncle, the Lords, upon the parties con- 
senting to have their dispute settled by arbitration, 
appointed certain prelates and peers to be the re- 
ferees, who directed their award to be entered on the 



326 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

Roils of Parliament. 1 On this occasion the Commons 
were not consulted ; but the Lords of the Council 
having reproved Gloster for his foolish and mis- 
chievous proceedings in Hainault, the Commons took 
part with their favourite in the next Parliament, and 
added to their grant of supply a request that his 
Duchess might be assisted in such a manner as to 
maintain the connection between her dominions and 
England — a proposal as hurtful in its tendency to the 
public interest, and as much the result of ignorance, 
as the vehement zeal of the same body on behalf of 
the Palatine in the reign of James I. 2 

The settlement of the Regency, however, was the 
most important matter submitted to the Parliament ; 
and though it was at first discussed by the Lords 
alone, with the assistance of the judges, it afterwards 
became the subject of statutory provision, the 
" assent " of the Commons being set forth as well as 
the " assent and advice " of the Lords. The nomi- 
nation of the Council was made by them, but with 
the same assent. The proclamation which, under 
the necessity of the case, they had issued to assemble 
the Parliament, was sanctioned, and the session ren- 
dered valid, by an act as soon as it met ; and that 
act was made in the name of all the three estates, 
the King nominally, he being a year old, the Lords 
and Commons really. The powers of the Protector 
were in like manner conferred by statute. The whole 
proceeding may justly be termed Parliamentary, and 

1 Rot. Par. iv. 296. 2 Rot, Par. iv. 319 : Note LXIII. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 327 

cannot be deprived of that title by the circumstance 
that by far the greater share in it belonged most 
probably to the Lords. It was far otherwise when 
they in the reign of Richard II., without any consent 
of the Commons, and without in any way taking 
notice of them, appointed a Council of Regency, and 
settled its powers during the King's minority. 1 In 
like manner, when Henry VI. laboured under illness 
and incapacity, the Lords, without any interference 
of the Commons, took upon themselves even the 
settlement, indeed the change, of the succession to 
the Crown ; but the civil war had then broken out, 
and no conclusion can be drawn from such proceed- 
ings as to the form or the practice of the constitution 
at that time. It is, however, to be observed that 
though some of the precedents from this reign have 
been occasionally cited, without due discrimination, as 
authorities upon the great question of a Regency 
which has arisen twice of late years, yet there is no 
reason to deny the weight of the first proceedings 
taken in consequence of Henry's minority. 2 

Though the accidents which have been referred to, 
joined with the infirmity of the Lancastrian title, 
encouraged and enabled both the Lords and the 
Commons to encroach upon the prerogative, and 
though the utmost gratitude is due to them for the 
steadiness with which they persisted in establishing 
their legislative rights, and their title to interfere in 
the administration of public affairs, yet we must not 
1 Rot Par. iii. 3. 2 Notes LV., LXIV. 



328 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

shut our eyes to the faults and the crimes which they 
committed in the use of the power that they ac- 
quired. Their conduct towards individuals and 
parties was almost always profligate and unjust in 
the greatest possible degree, and their submission 
to the tyranny of those who for the time had the 
mastery was uniform and shameful. During all 
Henry VI.'s reign, all Edward IV.'s, and Richard 
III.'s, down to the accession of Henry VII., they 
blindly obeyed the dictates of the faction that had 
the upper hand, the Prince whose success in the field 
had defeated his competitors. The history of those 
proceedings is a succession of contrary decisions on 
the same questions, conflicting laws on the same title, 
attainders and reversals, consigning one day all the 
adherents of a party to confiscation and the scaffold, 
reinstating them the next and placing their adver- 
saries in the same cruel predicament. The reign of 
Eichard II. did not present a more disgraceful picture 
of this kind, though the proceedings of Parliament 
were in a less fixed and regular course, and the pre- 
rogative of the Crown was more uncontrolled. 

It is not correct to state, as some writers have 
done, that the privilege of Parliament was in any 
material respect confirmed or extended in Henry VI.'s 
reign. 1 But a very important change was made in 
the election law, indeed in the constitution of the 
House of Commons, soon after his accession, by the 
restriction of the elective franchise in counties. The 

» Note LII. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 329 

original structure both of the Parliament and of the 
constituent body is involved in great obscurity. But 
there is every reason to suppose that the knights of 
the shire were the representatives or delegates of the 
lesser barons, the less considerable tenants in capite of 
the Crown, when these had ceased to sit in person, 
and that afterwards the rear vassals, or those holding 
of mesne lords, were considered as standing in the 
same predicament, and had the right of choosing the 
representatives. It is at least certain that this fran- 
chise was enjoyed without any regard to the extent or 
value of the freehold, the subject of the tenure. Con- 
sequently, when the division of property multiplied 
those holdings, the number of electors was exceedingly 
increased. It was to prevent the disorders consequent 
upon the crowds which attended the county courts at 
the election of knights, that the restraining law in the 
eighth year of Henry's reign was passed. The pre- 
amble plainly shows that a seat in Parliament had 
already become an object of ambition ; for it sets 
forth the danger to the public peace from " excessive 
numbers," and " riots and divisions among the gentle- 
men and other people," and the remedy affirmed to 
be necessary is preventing all from voting who have 
not forty shillings a year, clear of all charges, from 
their freehold, equal to above twenty pounds at the 
present day. Important regulations were added to 
control the returning officer, and the residence of the 
voter was required — a salutary condition, and which 
has long since been dispensed with. It would be wrong 



330 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

to deprive of their vote all who do not reside where 
their property lies ; but it is quite as wrong to give 
votes to the same individual in a great number of 
counties : each should choose his district, and there 
alone give his vote. 

The marriages of Catherine, the King's mother, 
and Jaquette, Bedford's widow, gave rise, the former 
to an act of Parliament, the latter to a proceeding 
under the feudal law. Owen Tudor having been 
twice arrested for marrying the Queen Dowager, and 
escaped, no further steps were taken against him for 
what was then only the offence, punishable by fine 
and imprisonment, of marrying a tenant of the Crown 
without royal licence. But the act made it punish- 
able with forfeiture of lands and goods. Woodville, 
who married the Duchess of Bedford, was fined for 
the feudal misdemeanour. Henry's wonted kindness 
of disposition was shown in his treatment of Cathe- 
rine's sons, whom he always acknowledged as 
brothers. One became a priest ; but on the other 
two he conferred earldoms ; and his nephew, heir to 
that of Richmond, afterwards became King of Eng- 
land under the name of Henry the Seventh. 



The Regency which was occasioned in France by 
the illness of Charles VI., and by the death of 
Henry V., was in England first occasioned by his 
decease and afterwards by the illness of his son ; 
but before this could affect the Government of 
France, his reign had ceased over that kingdom. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 331 

It appears from the Ordinances made at different 
times that in France, as in England, the law has 
never fixed generally in what manner the defect of 
the Royal authority is to be supplied. The King 
frequently provided for the expected event of a 
minority after his decease, by declaring at what age 
the majority of his successor should commence, and 
by whom the Royal authority should be in the mean 
time exercised. But little regard was paid to such 
Ordinances : the Princes of full age took possession 
of the Government, agreeing among themselves as to 
the distribution of its powers ; or some one of more 
capacity and more influence than the rest engrossed 
the whole to himself. When the reigning Sovereign 
was disabled by absence or sickness, the heir apparent 
either took upon himself the Government, or was, if 
young and inexperienced, controlled by one or more 
of the Princes. Sometimes recourse was had to the 
States General or to the Parliament of Paris for their 
sanction both in the case of disputed succession to the 
Regency, and in that of the heir apparent claiming it. 
Sometimes every thing was transacted without any 
such appeal. In England, no rule had been laid down 
either by the declaration of the Sovereign's pleasure 
in the particular case, or by an Act of Parliament to 
settle the course of proceeding generally. The pro- 
ceeding in Henry YI.'s time formed, as we have seen, 
the precedent most relied on in all the discussions to 
which the King's illness in 1788 gave rise. 1 
1 NoteLXlV. 



332 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

The last Ordinances on the subject before Henry 
Y.'s invasion were those of Charles VI. in 1403 and 
1407, the latter having been registered by the Parlia- 
ment after a hot dispute. The King is thereby declared 
to be of full age, whatever years he may have attained 
on the King's decease ; but if an infant, then the Go- 
vernment is to be carried on in his name by the 
Queen-mother, with the concurrence of the Princes 
of the Blood, and of a Council who are to have the 
whole authority in the event of her death or inca- 
pacity. These Ordinances were entirely the work 
of the Queen and Orleans : that of 1403 was made 
while the King had a lucid interval, by a Council 
of the Princes and officers of State; that of 1407 
was made by the Queen, with the consent of the 
Parliament, while the King was in confinement. All 
the sons were at both periods infants of a few years 
old. This arrangement, however, was never acted 
upon. The custody of the King's person, and the 
power of governing in his name, were assumed by the 
chiefs of whichever of the two factions had the pre- 
ponderance for the time. At length the Queen, having 
quarrelled with the Dauphin Charles, threw herself 
into the hands of the Burgundian ; and, on his 
death, continued her hostility to her son, siding with 
the Burgundian's successor. By the Treaty of 
Troves, which the States General ratified, 

1420. 

Henry V. was declared Regent on Charles 
YI.'s decease ; but during the remaining part of that 
unhappy Prince's reign he exercised the Royal au- 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 333 

thority in his name, under the title of Regent. The 
King survived him only a few weeks. 
Meanwhile, Charles, the son, assumed the 
Regency, and the Parliament of Toulouse registered 
his Letters proclaiming it. He sets forth 0ct 2 , 
in these his title as heir apparent, and as 14:20 * 
alone having the right to exercise the Royal authority 
in respect of the "well known incapacity" of his 
father. Upon the death of the latter, he succeeded of 
course to the Crown ; but in his embarrassing situa- 
tion he judged it prudent to obtain the recognition 

even of that clear right from the States at 

1423 
Bourges. Bedford, on the other hand, 

rested upon the former recognition, by the States, of 
the Treaty of Troyes, and upon Henry's gift of the 
Regency, which he advised him to offer the Duke of 
Burgundy, and which he had refused. Nothing fur- 
ther passed upon the subject during the continuance 
of the Lancastrian dynasty in France ; and no ob- 
jection appears to have been raised against Henry's 
exercising the power on his death-bed to appoint a 
Regent, although it may be observed that he was 
then only heir apparent, and under the Treaty, or 
Law of the Monarchy (as it had been made by the 
States), he had no power whatever to name a Re- 
gent. 1 



The infirm title of the Lancaster princes proved 
highly advantageous to the parliamentary constitution 
1 Note LXXII. 



334 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

of England, but their reign in France was not at- 
tended with such important results to the government 
of that state. Their power was founded upon their 
military possession ; they held only a part, though 
the greater part of the kingdom, which was distracted 
by civil war and in the occupation of rival sove- 
reigns ; and the popular assemblies had not acquired, 
in any portion of the country, the same form and con- 
sistency which they had for ages been gradually but 
steadily attaining in England. Those assemblies ex- 
isted at every period of the French monarchy, but 
imperfectly, irregularly, with many alternations of 
power and weakness, never extinguished, though their 
action was often changed, often suspended. These 
bodies were — the Parliament, which had become 
judicial in its ordinary functions, but with some 
claims to an indirect political interference by rem on 
strance, some weight from being occasionally con- 
sulted in great emergencies ; — and the States-General, 
which had no defined office, nor any recognised pri- 
vileges, above all, had no appointed periods of 
meeting, but were convoked in seasons of public 
embarrassment rather to help by their connexion with 
the country when the treasury wanted money, or the 
army men, than to assist with their advice. The 
fundamental maxims of the feudal polif^, and which 
had prevailed in France long before the formal and 
complete introduction of the system, that the com- 
munity should share in the administration of justice, 
and in granting the sovereign whatever aids he re- 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 335 

quired beyond the services incident to the vassal's 
tenure, had enabled the people of England, 1 taking 
advantage of the Crown's necessities, gradually to 
establish their mixed government: But a most im- 
perfect form of it alone remained in France, although 
the principles never were lost sight of; and some 
progress had been made in improving both the judicial 
and the legislative systems during the two centuries 
that preceded the times of which we treat. 2 The great 
difficulties which the English invasion created to the 
French government, the almost inextricable embar- 
rassments of the rival court after the conquest, and 
the dreadful condition of the country from the conse- 
quences of the war, as well as from its immediate 
operations, produced a sensible effect upon the manner 
of conducting state affairs, and may be justly said to 
have somewhat affected the position of the Crown in 
relation to the people. 

Upon the approach of Henry's invasion the Dau- 
phin Louis, exercising the powers of go- 
vernment for his father, levied a tattle, 3 
and laid a tenth upon the clergy, by his own mere 
authority, and without any assembling of the States. 
The collection was made by main force, a multitude 
of tax-gatherers being sent all over the country to 
employ every kind of violence — among others, that of 
seizing the persons of the peasantry to compel a ran- 

1 Note LXV. ■ Note Lxyi 

3 A tax on the land and farmers' profits, generally estimated by 

their stock, and from which the nohles and clergy were exempt, unless 

in certain districts. — Note LXVIII. 



336 ' HENRY THE SIXTH. 

som. The gendarmes oir their way to the army 
committed equal excesses in plundering the people, 
who fled to the woods for shelter from both classes 
of marauders, and remained wholly indifferent about 
the issue of the contest, only desiring that whichever 
party prevailed, the war might speedily cease. When 
Armagnac on Louis's death took possession of the 
government, he plainly showed that no appeal would 
be made either to the Parliament or to the States. 
In Languedoc, where he possessed many fiefs, he 
strictly forbade his lieutenants or superintendents to 
hold any assembly; and afterwards, when 
the Parliament of Paris addressed him to 
urge a reconcilement with the Burgundian, he pe- 
remptorily refused, drove 300 persons of note, in- 
cluding many Parliament-men, into banishment, and 
considered that he had thus obtained a preponderating 
majority in all their deliberations. Yet still he 
avoided asking their sanction, or that of the States, 
to any levy of taxes ; he preferred despoiling the 
churches of their plate, seizing the treasures amassed 
by the Queen, raising the denomination or lowering 
the standard of the coin, and extorting money from 
the inhabitants of Paris, the zealous partisans of his 
adversary. The Burgundian availed himself skilfully 
of these oppressive acts to obtain an advantage over 
his rival ; he used the Queen's authority to annul the 
Armagnac Parliament at Paris, to summon another 
at Troyes, and to repeal all the taxes which Armagnac 
had imposed. But he also by the same authority 



HENKY THE SIXTH. 337 

assembled the States of Languedoc, prelates, nobles, 
and towns: he appealed to them for sup- 
plies, but also desired their advice upon 
the state of public affairs. This proceeding gained 
over to his side the whole of that country ; with the 
exception of Beaucaire and Avignon, it became all 
Burgundian. It cannot be doubted that the States 
likewise granted him a supply, though of this no 
precise information has reached us. The recognition 
of that body was plainly owing, not so much to the 
English invasion as to the conflict between the two 
great parties which divided France. Armagnac 
having taken one course, the Burgundian took the 
opposite. 

When the Treaty of Troyes had surrendered the 
kingdom to Henry, the Burgundian's suc- 
cessor, Philip, found no support of that 
disgraceful settlement from his own barons or his 
towns ; they would on no account swear to maintain 
it. The confederates, therefore, Philip, the Queen, 
the Begent Henry, and their tool, the unhappy King, 
convoked the States at Paris in order to obtain a 
sanction to their proceedings. The Parisians, in their 
factious zeal against the Armagnacs, had at once 
declared their approval of the treaty. The States 
met under the presidency of Charles, who was said to 
have a lucid interval ; they were directed to deliberate 
in their several chambers ; and in a few days they 
returned with an unqualified answer in favour of the 
treaty, declaring it to be the Law of the Monarchy. 



338 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

They further agreed to adopt whatever measures the 
King and his council should recommend ; and under 
pretence of restoring the standard of the coin, they 
were asked to approve of a heavy tax on all the sub- 
jects of the Crown. The Ordinance made on this 
occasion was in the name of the Regent as well as the 
King, and purported to be by the advice and consent 
of the Three Estates. It may be recollected that by 
the treaty Henry bound himself, both as Regent and 
when King, to advise with the nobles and wise men of 
the realm, to preserve their rights and those of the 
towns and communities, and to impose no taxes save in 
cases of necessity, and to a reasonable amount. The 
Regent Bedford, after his brother's death, did not 
assemble the States to obtain either a recognition of 
Henry VI.'s title or supplies for the war; but he 
called a meeting of notables, lay and clerical, for both 
those purposes. They granted an aid ; but when he 
asked for a restoration to the Crown of all the lands 
granted to the Church during the last reign, the 
clergy treated the proposition as sacrilege, and Bedford 
was obliged to withdraw it. Here, then, it should 
seem that the embarrassments of the government 
imposed some restraint upon the royal authority. 

Charles VII., upon taking the management of 
affairs into his own hands, pursued an entirely dif- 
ferent course from that of Armagnac in the provinces 
which he still held. He assembled the 
States-General at Bourges, and those of 
Languedoc at Carcassonne, asking from them a rer 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 339 

cognition of his title upon his father's death, and a 
supply for the expenses of the war. Both requests 
were willingly complied with ; but a complaint of 
judicial abuses accompanied the grant, and Charles 
issued an Ordinance to redress the grievance. It was 
prepared by a commission of prelates and lawyers, and 
must be regarded as an important result of the diffi- 
culties in which the Crown was placed, and a conces- 
sion obtained through the popular assembly. Another 
step in the same direction was afterwards 

1425. 
made by the Parliament at Poictiers, whither 

Charles had transferred the Parliament of Paris. 

That body refused to register an Ordinance giving the 

Pope the power of nominating to benefices. The 

ground of the refusal was that the Ordinance had 

been surreptitiously obtained by the Pomish clergy, 

and in derogation of a former Ordinance of Charles 

establishing the independence of the Gallican Church. 

As his embarrassments increased he more fre- 
quently appealed to the States ; but he found great 
difficulty in obtaining their attendance from the dis- 
turbed state of the country. Sometimes no meeting 
could be held ; sometimes they met, but in small 
numbers. Of their proceedings the accounts, where 
any have reached us, are both meagre and contradic- 
tory. Among the statements which can be 

. . . 1427. 

relied on is one, that the Assembly in Lan- 

guedoc, having made a very inconsiderable grant to 

Foix, Charles's lieutenant, and he having attempted 

to raise 22,000 livres beyond the sum given, though 

z 2 



340 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

to be expended in the service, the States remonstrated, 
and the additional collection was suspended by a 
Royal Ordinance. The States General assembled at 
Mehun some time before had shown very little of the 
same jealousy. They complained of the expenses 
occasioned by the army and of the outrages which 
it committed; but granted a general taille, and, ex- 
pecting not to be often again assembled, declared 
their readiness to support the King with their lives 
and fortunes, in whatever measures he might adopt, 
and without being called together. It is manifest 
that they did not wish to meet, and were well assured 
no imposts would be levied without their assent. That 
Charles took this view of their proceeding is obvious, 
because he never acted upon the licence which they had 
affected to give him, and made repeated attempts to 
convoke them again. After several failures, he 
induced them to assemble by offering them the full 
power of discussing all public affairs, and 
thus at length obtained a meeting. The 
States of all the provinces met at Chinon, and granted 
him a supply of 400,000 livres, to be paid by the 
nobles and clergy, as well as the tiers etat ; but 
they also demanded that the Parliament of Paris 
(now sitting at Poictiers) and that of Toulouse 
(sitting at Beziers on account of the plague) should 
be united. This was accordingly done by an Ordi- 
nance which continued in force for thirteen years; 
and it proves the weight which the States of Lan- 
guedoc had in the Assembly. Other demands were 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 341 

made of a reform in the Chamber of Accounts and 
inferior judicatures. 

The state of the country prevented a resort to the 
Court and Parliament at Paris and to the Parliament 
at Poictiers, while it interrupted the trade of all the 
towns ; and Bedford as well as Charles was induced to 
devise measures of relief. They both issued Ordin- 
ances with this view ; and among other expedients they 
endeavoured to encourage commerce by opening the 
ports and inducing foreign merchants to resort thither. 
These Ordinances, though made without any au- 
thority from the States, were not likely to occasion 
a difference of opinion in any quarter. But deep 
and general discontent had been excited in the 
northern parts of the country by the insolent and over- 
bearing demeanour of the English, who even set the 
Parisians against them — a consummation which all 
Henry's haughtiness and cruelty had failed to bring 
about ; ! and in the provinces still under Charles, 
the calamities of the war, with its attendant anarchy 
— ascribed, and justly ascribed, to the English inva- 
sion — roused in the people such a spirit of resist- 
ance as secured him their zealous support, while it 
crippled his adversary. For some years, therefore, 
he rarelv convoked the States. From one 

PI- • T7" 1 1 • ! 1434 - 

oi their meetings at Vienne he obtained a 

supply, which was followed by a similar grant the 

year after from the States of Languedoc. In the 

next four years he frequently assembled them, but 

1 Note LXIX. 



342 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

their proceedings were of so little importance that few 
or no traces of them remain. 

Now, however, the successes of the war, the re- 
concilement with the Duke of Burgundy, 
the prospect of finally expelling the English 
by a vigorous effort, above all, the dreadful state of 
the country, appear to have produced an effect upon 
Charles of which history affords scarcely any other 
example. His whole character suffered an extraor- 
dinary change — it seemed as if his nature had under- 
gone a transformation. Shaking off the habits of an 
indolent voluptuary, the tool of intriguers and dupe 
of favourites, he devoted himself without reserve 
to public affairs, and displayed talents yet more 
remarkable than the pleasing manners and other tri- 
vial accomplishments which had hitherto made him 
be rather loved than respected, and chiefly the two 
highest qualities of a ruler, firmness of purpose, with 
the power as well as the will ever to choose capable 
servants. He was thus able to restore the indepen- 
dence of his country ; but he bestowed upon his 
people an equally precious gift by re-establishing 
domestic peace through the restored dominion of the 
law. These truly great triumphs were attended with 
considerable changes in the constitution. 

When he began what may be termed his own 

reign, he found the wretchedness of the 
1439. 

people so dreadful, from the anarchy every 

where prevailing, that he was not only enabled by 

the assent of all classes, but compelled by their in- 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 343 

tolerable sufferings, to provide an effectual remedy, 
or to witness the entire dissolution of society. The 
distractions of the Government for above half a cen- 
tury — the civil war, so long dividing the people — the 
resort of foreign adventurers, attracted by the pros- 
pect of plunder — above all, the occasional disbanding 
and constant desertion of the soldiers in the contend- 
ing armies, had subjected the whole country to bodies 
of freebooters, who at length became so strong in 
numbers, and so desperate in audacity, that they 
undertook military operations upon a considerable 
scale when united, as when dispersed they carried on 
the work of general massacre and pillage. Bedford 
(we have seen) had unsuccessfully opposed a body of 
those Ecorcheurs (flayers, as they delighted to call 
themselves), had lost one of his most distinguished 
captains, with a considerable division of his choicest 
troops, and had with difficulty prevented another body 
from sacking Paris, after taking a fortified suburb and 
massacreing its garrison. The less defended districts 
of the country were entirely exposed to their ravages 
by fire and sword. 1 It thus became the most vehe- 
ment desire of the whole community to see those 
lawless depredators put down. Upon this feeling 
Charles acted, as his grandfather had done in similar 
circumstances eighty years before ; but he was enabled 
to obtain from it more important results. 
He assembled the States at Orleans, where 
their meeting was more thronged, and their pro- 
1 Note LXVII. 



344 HENKY THE SIXTH. 

ceedings more solemn, than had ever before been 
known. 

Three several subjects were brought before them 
for debate — the question of peace connected with the 
pending negotiations ; the grant of a supply for con- 
tinuing the war ; the establishment of a military force 
equal to cope with the difficulties both external and 
internal of the country. These questions appear to 
have been fully discussed. In compliance with the 
opinion pronounced for peace, an embassy was pro- 
mised to treat with the English envoys. All arbitrary 
exactions, whether by the Crown or the Barons, were 
prohibited, but a taille of 1,200,000 livres was granted 
for the support of an armed force ; the provisions re- 
specting which formed the most important feature of 
the Ordinance made with the consent of the States. 
The power was vested or recognised in the King to 
employ at all times a hired body of cavalry 9000 in 
number, and to name all their officers ; all other per- 
sons whatever were forbidden to appoint commanders 
of any armed bodv ; the Barons were held respon- 
sible for excesses committed by their followers ; the 
persons named by the King to command the cavalry 
were to choose their men, but to be answerable for 
their conduct ; and all persons were declared subject 
to the ordinary judicatures of the country. 

It being found impossible to put this important 
Ordinance in execution immediately, the continuance 
of the Robber-bands gave the Barons a pretext for 
opposing Charles and exciting discontent against him. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 345 

They had been restrained at the meeting of the 
States partly by the alarm generally prevailing, and 
in which they partook ; partly by the strong feeling 
of the other classes : but now they joined in a con- 
spiracy to dethrone him, and put the Dauphin in his 
place. When foiled by the combined firmness and 
temper of the King, they held a meeting at Nevers 
with the discontented princes, and presented a remon- 
strance against his proceedings as injurious to the 
common people. This, with their having yielded at 
Orleans, is a sure proof of the importance which the 
Third Estate had acquired. But these occurrences, 
and the interruptions occasioned by the war, prevented 
him from giving full effect to the Ordinance for several 
years. He then established the regular 
force of lancers authorised by that Ordin- 
ance to be raised and paid. They were distributed 
in fifteen companies ; and by the help of his most con- 
fidential nobles he so arranged the appointments, that 
the more able and experienced of the banditti chiefs 
became the officers, and recruited their men from 
among their Bands as well as the French cavalry at 
large. The bodies thus raised were called from their 
origin Compagnies d* Ordonnance ; they were sub- 
jected to a strict discipline, and were distributed over 
the whole kingdom, each town paying its proportion 
of the taille, which thus became a yearly and per- 
manent tax, levied without any new authority from 
the States, or even any new Ordinance. 1 All the 

1 P. Dan., vii. 214 ; Mez., ii. 51. 



346 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

commanders of Bands and their followers were ordered 
to disperse themselves under the severest penalties, 
and in a very short time the restoration of quiet and 
order appeared to be effected. 1 

Satisfied with the grant of the army and of the 
taille thus made perpetual, and apprehensive either 
of the Barons gaining more influence, or of the popu- 
lar force being turned against himself, Charles avoided 
again convoking the States for financial or for general 
purposes, though he assembled them at Bourges 

when he desired their concurrence in taking 

1447 - -i -i • i 

part with one rival pope against another, 

and met with a refusal, only obtaining the grant of 
a tenth to be levied upon the clergy. So much did 
he shun any new appeal to the States, that he rarely 
applied even to those of the provinces, to which he had 
formerly made repeated applications. For one most 
important purpose, however, he made use of their 
local information and authority. The customs of the 
different provinces had never been fully ascertained 
and reduced to writing. St. Louis had begun this 
useful work, and in the course of two centuries those 
of several districts had been compiled. 2 Charles ex- 
tended this to the whole kingdom, requiring the cus- 
toms of each province to be digested in a Coutumier 
or Code by the States of that province. 

1 There cannot "be a stronger proof of the little attention paid by 
French authors to the proceedings of the States than the circumstance 
of the Hist. Univ. Mod., torn, xxxvi. p. 116 (Hist. France, liv. xxiii. 
sec. 7), ascribing the whole reform of the army to Charles VII., without 
even mentioning the States of Orleans or the Ordinance. 

2 Note LXX. 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 347 

But though he avoided any further assemblages 
after the advantage he had reaped from the assent 
of the last to both his financial and military policy, 
he took care to use the authority wherewithal he had 
been armed in order to improve both those branches 
of his administration. He not only extended the taille 
considerably beyond the sum at which it had been 
fixed in the Ordinance of Orleans by taking three 
several crues or surcharges, 1 but he arranged the dis- 
tribution and collection in a manner calculated to 
render it at once more productive and more oppressive. 
But he made a still more important addition to the 
regular army, sanctioned by that Ordinance. He esta- 
blished a militia, or body of archers, one to 

. . 1448. 

be furnished, equipped, and trained by each 

parish, ready when required for the King's service, 
but only then to receive pay, and to have an exemption 
from all direct taxes as a compensation for the en- 
rolment. This circumstance gave them their name 
of franc-archers. His successor many 

1479. 
years after suppressed this body, and in- 
troduced the Swiss troops instead, beside making a 
large addition to the lancers or cavalry. But the 
standing army unquestionably was introduced by 
Charles ; and to its excellent discipline and general 
efficiency, contemporary writers ascribe his succeeding 
so easily in the conquest of Normandy. 2 

1 Note LXYIII. 

2 Monstrelet, iii. ch. ccx., Hafod edit. P. Dan. (vii. 626) dates the 
introduction of the Swiss Guards in 1479, Ph. de Com. (i. ch. 6) in 
1465. 



348 HENKY THE SIXTH. 

The establishment of the franc-archers had in- 
creased the jealousy of the Barons towards the Third 
Estate, whose strong support of the King in the 
meeting at Orleans had overpowered their opposition. 
Charles now found it expedient to court them by an 
improvement of the army, which proved acceptable 

to them while it furthered his own plans. 

1455. 

The feudal part of the force, that which 
the Barons furnished, was placed upon a more regular 
footing, but one which made the providing and main- 
taining it easier for them. This, too, was done by 
the King's own authority, and without any assembling 
of the States. 

All these considerable changes in the Government, 
chiefly in its practice, but in some measure also affect- 
ing its principles, may justly be viewed as connected 
with the English invasion more or less directly. They 
were changes in two opposite directions ; they tended 
on the one hand to increase the power of the Crown, 
but on the other hand they involved material ad- 
missions of the subject's rights. The necessity of 
appeal to the States in any emergency of affairs was 
proved by numerous examples. The course of con- 
sulting those assemblies on other matters, as well as 
on supply, was more frequently resorted to. Even 
the changes most beneficial to the prerogative, the 
perpetual tax and the standing army, were made with 
the assent of the States, and principally of the Com- 
mons ; and the importance of that body was recognised 
by the aristocracy as well as by the Sovereign. It is 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 349 

certain that the invasion and the state of anarchy into 
which the war threw the country, enabled the Sove- 
reign to accomplish whatever he undertook with 
respect to the administration of affairs ; but it is not 
true that this state of things now for the first time 
existed in France. The evils so severely felt had at- 
tained a great height a century before, in Edward's 
time, and from similar causes. They were now be- 
come more intolerable, and they led to more perma- 
nent results. 1 

Whoever marks the changes to which we have been 
adverting, must perceive whence the power was de- 
rived that enabled the King to effect them. It was 
from the feelings engendered by a worse oppression 
than any which the abuse of his authority could inflict, 
and from the well-grounded dread of the anarchy 
becoming yet more general and unbearable. We have 
noted other resemblances between the older and the 
more recent passages in the history of France ; and 
this adds one, not the least remarkable, to their num- 
ber. The contrast in character and conduct of the 
Parisians with the rest of the French people ; the in- 
fluence over the multitude possessed by the most 
despicable and the most detestable leaders ; the un- 
principled, often unreflecting, sacrifice of the national 
honour, now to factious rage, now to selfish impatience 
of exertion ; the unmanly attacks on unoffending 
weakness — women of exalted rank, venerable priests, 
aged nobles; the violation of the Monarch's person 

1 NoteLXVII. 



350 HENRY THE SIXTH. 

by forcing him to crouch before the mob, and wear 
the emblems of its triumph; 1 the massacres in the 
streets patiently witnessed, and the horrid murders 
perpetrated by wholesale in the prisons — these revolt- 
ing scenes do not more accurately present the antici- 
pation of enormities that disfigure the pages of recent 
annals, than the habitual acquiescence under any 
tyranny from the dread of worse mischief, affords 
a parallel to the patience of the same nation under 
the Directorial reign, alike harsh, corrupt, and con- 
temptible — the Consular usurpation — the Imperial 
despotism — the Restoration, with its abuses and its 
disappointments — the Republic, with its real servi- 
tude and nominal freedom — a patience entirely pro- 
duced by the apprehension that resistance might 
bring on the heaviest calamity of all, restoring the rabble 
to supreme power, and making its will the law. Nor 
can it be doubted that if the hordes of blood- 
thirsty plunderers who spread universal dismay in the 
fifteenth century surpassed in numbers the miscreants 
of whom the eighteenth stood in awe, the catastrophe 
which threatened the earlier, the more rude and more 
unfeeling age, was less terrible than would be the 
general establishment of lawless violence, under what 
name soever — whether of popular supremacy, or pure 
democracy, or all governed by all, or Utopia, or Com- 
munism — on the ruins of a social system at once arti- 
ficial and refined. 2 

1 Note LXXI. 2 Note LXXIII. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Note I. — p. 1. 
That Huss received the works of Wycliffe from England there 
can be no doubt. This subject is treated fully in L'Enfant's 
Council of Constance, i. 25 et seqq. The proceedings of that 
Council on Wycliffe and Huss tend to the same conclusion of 
connecting together these reformers. Sir Thomas More, Dial, 
iii. 14, also traces Huss's proceedings to Wycliffe. Huss him- 
self never denied that Wycliffe was his forerunner, and always 
defended him against the charge of heresy, and of teaching any- 
thing against Scripture, though his books had been burnt by 
the Council in 1412, and forty-five of his tenets condemned 
(L'Enfant, Concil. Const., i. 25, 240). 

That Wycliffe manor was an ancient seat of the Wycliffes we 
find asserted as well known by Camden (Brit. iii. 340). The 
strange mistake of Baker (Chron. 130) may be noted. He 
says that Wycliffe went into voluntary banishment to Bohemia, 
where his doctrine took root after his death, which he seems to 
say happened in that country. 



Note II.— p. 3. 

T. Walsingham's silence on the subject of Wycliffe's talents 
and character, when contrasted with the bitterness of his invec- 
tives against his heresies, is sufficiently expressive : n Hypocrita, 
Angelus Sathanae, antichristi prceambulus, non norainandus, 
Joannes Wycklif, vel potius Wick-beleve, hsereticus, sua deli- 
ramenfa," &c. (Hist. Ang. 256). So in relating his death — 

2 A 



354 NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. n. 

" Organum diabolicum, hostis eCclesise" (not felt as an anti- 
climax, probably) " confusio vulgi, hypocritarum speculum" 
(ib. 338) ; and the good monk then describes with infinite exul- 
tation his apoplectic seizure, with its dreadful effects upon his 
features. In the Ypodigina Neust. 142, he dispatches him to 
hell, " Malitiosum efflavit spiritum ad sedes luce carentes." 
But H. Knighton, who represents everything as much as possible 
against him, though in language more measured, is obliged to 
admit that he was " Doctor in Theologia eminentissimus," adding 
" in philosophia nulli reputabatur secundus, in Scholasticis dis- 
putationibus incomparabilis" {JDe Ev. Ang. 2644). 

Walden, his bitter enemy, says {Epistle to Martin V.) that 
he " was wonderfully astonished at Wycliffe's most strong argu- 
ments with the places of authority which he had gathered, and 
with the vehemency and force of his reasons." 

After his death the Vice-Chancellor and Senate of Oxford 
bore a formal and solemn testimony to his character: — " All 
his conditions and doings throughout his whole life were most 
sincere and commendable. His honest manners and conditions, 
profoundness of learning and most redolent fame, we deem the 
more worthy to be notified and known unto all faithful, for that 
we understand the maturity and ripeness of his gifts ; his 
diligent labour and travels solid to praise God and profit the 
Church." They describe him as " so preeminently honest from 
his youth upward that never at any time was there any spot of 
imposition noised of him." They speak of him as " the cham- 
pion of the faith, vanquishing by force of Scriptures all such as 
by their wilful beggary blasphemed and slandered Christ's reli- 
gion ; neither (they add) was this doctor convict of any heresy 
— neither were burnt any of his works after his burial." To his 
talents the amplest testimony is borne : " In logicalibus, philo- 
sophies, theologicis, et moralibus scripserat inter omnes nostrae 
universitatis ut credimus sine pari." This document bears date 
1st October, 1406 {Condi. Mag n. Brit., iii. 302). But some 
have doubted its authenticity, and supposed the University seal to 
have been used by fraud. 



in., iv. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 355 

Note III.— p. 3. 

" Bothe vengaunce of swerde," saith he, " and myscheife 
unknowne bifore, bi whiche men thes daise schulde be pu- 
nysched, schule falle for synne of prestis. Men schal fall on 
hem, and cast hem out of her fatte benefices, and thei schal 
seie, ' he came into his benefice by his brynrede, thes by covenant 
maad bifore ; he for his servyse, and thes for moneye, came into 
Goddis Chirche.' Thane schal eche suche prest crye, Alas ! 
alas ! that no good spirit dwellid with me at my comynge into 
Goddis Chirche" {Last Age of the Church, p. xxxiv., Todd's 
edition). The date of this work is proved to be 1356, as in the 
text I have given it, for in one passage the author expressly 
says, " Fro Crist we now are therten hundred yeirs, fifty and 
sixe yeirs." 

* The Last Age of the Church' began thus : " Alas forsorwe (for 
sorrow) grete prestis sittinge in derkenessis and in schadowes of 
deeth, noght havynge him that openly crieth Al this I wille give 
gif you avaunce me." Then he inveighs against reservations, 
dymes (i. e. tithes of clerical incomes due to Rome), first fruits, 
and other payments. He also describes as one of the four 
tribulations of the Church, " chafferers walkynge in derkenessis, 
the heresy of Symonysms." 



Note IV. — p. 4. 

Dr. Lingard, with his wonted zeal against reformers, states 
this suspicion of the purity of Wyclifte's motives, and only says 
that the charge has been brought, '•''perhaps rashly " {Ling. 
Ed. III., ch. ii. vol. iv. p. 215). Now as Dr. Lingard cites 
Lewis, who gives the dates fully, there should have been no 
doubt expressed, for these dates are decisive against the charge. 
In 1356 the i Last Age of the Church ' was published, as is shown 
in Note III. ; and it accuses the Romish see of simoniacal prac- 
tices (see that note). About the same time, certainly not later 

2 a 2 



356 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. iv. 

than 1360, Wycliffe took a most prominent part in the contro- 
versy against the Mendicant friars. It was not till 1365 that he 
obtained the wardenship of Canterbury Hall, nor until 1370 that 
the Pope decided against his claims, the interval having been 
spent in further prosecuting his former opposition to the friars. 

I have given in the text the common account which all writers 
from the end of the sixteenth century gave, and which never was 
doubted till 1841, when Mr. Courthope adduced important 
reasons for questioning whether Wycliffe ever was Master of 
Canterbury Hall. His opinion is founded on the undoubted fact 
that there was another J. Wycliffe, who died a year before the 
Reformer, having held the living of Hirsted Kynes in Sussex, 
and who also held the living of Mayfield, Archbishop Islip's re- 
sidence, in the same county. It is further certain that Wycliffe 
himself never makes any allusion to his appeal in any of his 
numerous writings ; and, what is more material to the argument, 
his bitter enemies, T. Walsingham and H. Knighton, are wholly 
silent upon the fact of his ever having had a dispute with Rome 
on his own individual account. I have caused search to be made 
in all the repositories of Oxford — those of Balliol, Merton, and 
Christ Church — with which Canterbury Hall was united in 1545 ; 
but any mention of the great Reformer is rarely to be found in 
the records of those houses, Chichele, when he succeeded to the 
primacy, having indeed caused most of the documents in which 
his name appeared to be destroyed. Of Canterbury Hall there 
are no papers whatever preserved in Christ Church ; and those 
of Lambeth only give the pieces of the proceedings in the appeal, 
from whence no inference can be drawn as to which of the two 
Wycliffes claimed the Mastership. But one circumstance seem s 
to impeach Mr. Courthope's system, and to confirm the com- 
mon account. The J. Wycliffe who was Master received his 
appointment in December, 1365 ; and it appears from the Balliol 
papers in the chest relating to St. Lawrence Jewry (a city rectory 
in the gift of that College), that John de Huegate was Master of 
Balliol in 1366. Now nothing can be less likely than that the 
Reformer, who is admitted on all hands to have been Master 



v. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 357 

of Balliol in 1365, should have given up his place unless he 
received some other promotion ; and if he became Master of 
Canterbury Hall, the probability is very great that he would 
almost immediately resign Balliol. There is an appendix to 
the work of a Master of Balliol, entitled ' Balio-fergus,' which 
gives a list of the Masters, and after J. Wycliffe's name (1361) 
comes that of Tyrwitt (1371); but the author expressly states 
that he only gives the names of Masters who did something 
worthy of being recorded, and that his dates refer not to their 
admission, but to their acts. By the same list it appears that in 
1340 another John Wycliffe had been Master of Balliol, for at 
that time the Reformer was only sixteen years old. 

The Bursars' Rolls of Merton show that J. Wycliffe held a 
College office 30 Edw. III. (1357), and was therefore in all 
probability a Fellow at that time. 



Note V. — p. 4. 

The following passage is taken from his MS. tract ' Of Clerks 
Possessionem/ apud Lewis, p. 7 : — " Freres," says he, u dra wen 
children fro Christ's religion into their private order by hypo- 
crisie, lesings, and steling. For they tellen that their order is 
more holy than any other, and that they shullen have higher 
degree in the bliss of heaven than other men that ben not therein, 
and seyn that men of their order shullen never come to hell, but 
shullen dome other men with Christ at doomsday. And so they 
stelen children from fader and moder, sometime such as ben un- 
able to the order, and sometime such as shullen susteyn their 
fader and moder by the commandment of God ; and thus they 
ben blasphemers taken upon full councel in douty l things that 
ben not expressly commanded ne forbidden in holy writ ; sith 
such counsel is appropred to the Holy Gost, and thus they ben 
therefore cursed of God as the Pharisees were of Christ, to 
whom he saith thus : 2 ' Woe to you scribes and Pharisees that 

1 Doubtful. 2 Matt, xxiii. 14. 



358 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. vi., vn. 

ben writers of law, and men of "singular religion, that corapassen 
about the water and the lond to maken of your religion, and 
when he is made of your religion yee maken him double more 
a child of helle, 5 And sith he that steleth an ox or a cow is 
damnable by God's law and man's law also, muckil more he 
that steleth a man's child, that is better than all earthly goods, 
and draweth him to the less perfitt order. And though this 
singular order were more perfect than Christ's, yet he wot 
nevere where it be to damnation of the child, for he wot not to 
what state God hath ordained him ; and so blindly they don 
agenst Christ's ordinance." 



Note VI.— p. 11. 

Among the exaggerated notions of the day we find the strange 
assertion that the Pope levied five times as much from the coun- 
try as the Crown. " Omnia Homes venalia " was a maxim as 
generally cited in Edward III.'s time as in that of Catiline at 
Rome. That Prince was petitioned to expel all churchmen from 
civil offices ; and the threat was sometimes plainly heard of termi- 
nating by force the papal authority. ' Piers Plowman's Vision ' 
is chiefly directed against the clergy ; and Chaucer is full of 
sarcasms at their expense ; and though it may be observed that 
he flourished late in the same century, yet Langley preceded 
WyclifFe by many years. 



Note VII.— p. 12. 

" In tantum in suis laboriosis dogmatibus prsevaluerunt, quod 
mediam partem populi, aut majorem partem suae sectse adquisi- 
verunt" (H. Knighton, 2664). "In tantum multiplicata fuit 
(Secta scil.) quod vix duos videres in via quin alter eorum dis- 
cipulus Wycliffe fuit " (id. 2666). 



viii.— x. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 359 



Note VIIL— p. 14. 

Some accounts represent the Primate as having been present. 
But the Bishop of London alone as presiding makes answer to 
the Lords when they speak for Wycliffe, and yet, had the Pri- 
mate been there, he must have presided. The mistake probably 
arises from the bull being addressed to the Primate as well as 
the Bishop. The inference that Courtenay or some of his fol- 
lowers had given an intimation to the populace of what had 
passed in court with the Duke seems difficult to avoid. For how 
else should they have been aware of it ? His furious zeal was 
too well known ; nor was there anything in Lancaster's words to 
make the people suppose he had insulted Courtenay, unless the 
latter had showed himself greatly offended. 



Note IX.— p. 16. 

" Quinimo si ibi esset corpus Christi asseveravit in fractione 
se posse frangere collum Dei sui. Quod panem esse dicebant, 
et rem inanimatam, et potius venerandum esse bufonem vel quod- 
libet animatum."— T. Wals. 356. 



Note X. — p. 17. 

T. Walsingham (p. 281) gives three several and distinct 
causes of the tumults, regarding them as judgments of Heaven — 
First, upon the prelates for not prosecuting with severity the 
partisans of the new heresy. — Secondly, upon the Lords for their 
bad lives and atheistical principles, and their tyranny over the 
community. — Thirdly, upon the wicked lives of the community 
themselves. As regards the supineness of the prelates, he de- 
clares the breaking out of the insurrection on the day of Corpus 
Domini to constitute a proof of its being judicial. But not a 



360 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xi.— xtii. 

word does he or H. Knighton say of the Wycliffites as having by 
their preaching caused any discontent or stirred up any sedition 
among the common people. 



Note XI.— p. 17. 

See Rot. Par. iii. 1 Ric. II. 88, 2 Ric. II. 60. Dr. Lingard, 
who makes the charge against Wycliffe's doctrines of having en- 
couraged the turbulent spirits, places this accusation in such 
juxtaposition to the complaints of the Lords as would make a 
careless reader suppose that those complaints were partly levelled 
at the Reformed teachers. — iii. 175-6. 



Note XII.— p. 18. 

It is somewhat singular that the expulsion of the parties 
themselves is not directly ordered, but only may be implied by 
the sentence against all who held the opinions. — JRymer, xii. 363. 
This royal mandate is directed to sheriffs and mayors as well as 
the university, and it enjoins obedience to the Primate's lawful 
orders. Hence it should seem to have been issued under the 
Stat. 5 Ric. II., afterwards repealed. For the subsequent 
royal proclamations, as that in 1395, do not refer to the prelate's 
authority, but to that of the Crown, and they contain no com- 
mand to sheriffs and mayors. — Id. 805-6. 



Note XIII.— p. 19. 

Stat. 5 Ric. II. c. 17, and 6 Ric. II. c. 53. The words of the 
Commons in desiring the repeal are worthy of remark — "It is 
no wise their interest that they or their posterity be justified and 
bound before the prelates any more than their ancestors have been 
in times past." — Rot. Par. iii. 141. 



xiv. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 361 



Note XIV.— p. 25. 

Wycliffe's was certainly the first translation of the Bible, though 
different parts of it had before been rendered into Saxon and 
English. Dr. Lingard hastily adopts a vague expression of Sir 
Thomas More's in his Discourses, to show that a translation had 
long before been made ; and the expression does not bear him out 
(Hist. iii. 198). Wycliffe's translation, made chiefly by himself, 
and wholly under his immediate direction, was principally from 
the Latin versions. A very full and learned account of the Trans- 
lations of the Bible is given in Dr. Rees's Cyclopaedia, voce Bible. 
Sir T. More's Dial., b. iii. c. 14, lavishes much abuse on "WyclifFe, 
and charges him with gross and systematic mistranslation and 
corruption of the Scriptures. His assertion that they had all 
been translated before is given with the most suspicious gene- 
rality, and plainly rests on no specific or definite facts. He con- 
tends, too, that the Romish clergy did not lock up the Bible 
from the laity, and would have us believe that they only were 
desirous of preventing erroneous translations from misleading the 
people. — Works, 1549, pp. 233-4. 

More's bigotry exceeds that of most men. It is perhaps the 
most remarkable instance of the prostration of great faculties by 
superstition. One of his principal charges against Luther is his 
being an enemy of crusades against the Turks. His answer to 
Tindale is unrivalled in weakness and in zeal. 

The number of Wycliffe's writings was enormous, even for 
that voluminous age. They exceeded those of St. Augustin. 
His Bible, though hastily executed, is most valuable as a mine 
or record of our Saxon tongue ; for it is written in singularly 
idiomatic language ; and Mr. Hallam has done it only justice in 
representing its composition as an important step in the progress 
of the language. — ii, 607. 



362 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xv., xvi. 



Note XV.— p. 27. 

The abuse of Luther by both clerical and lay adversaries ex- 
ceeded the ordinary measure of polemical virulence. That he 
was criminally connected with Catherine Bora before marriage, 
or, as it was phrased, that he was v/ithin two days a monk, a 
husband, and a father ; that he was a glutton and a sot, and died 
suddenly after a debauch ; that he succeeded in convincing him- 
self against all religion after a ten years' struggle, compared to 
the siege of Troy, and that he became an atheist — these are 
charges, wholly false, indeed, but not impossible to be true in 
the nature of things. But it was also currently asserted that he 
had been begotten by a monster, or incubus, and that he habi- 
tually drank two gallons of sweet wine at dinner and supper, 
— assertions which stamp themselves with falsehood, and their au- 
thors with folly as well as fraud. Erasmus, who had at one 
time believed and given currency to the charge respecting his 
wife, afterwards retracted it most fully. To vindicate Luther 
from faults of another kind, some of them almost bordering on 
mental alienation, would be an altogether hopeless task. His 
table-talk dwells with disgusting detail on supposed conflicts with 
the devil ; he gave the Elector a dispensation to marry two 
wives ; and he profaned the pulpit with sermons vindicating for- 
nication. 



Note XVI.— p. 29. 

The first part of Spencer's epitaph refers to these exploits : — 

" Lollardi mores damnant deteriores 
Insurrectores permissus necat et proditores." 

" Nullus pacturus (says Copgrave) tempore suo inter populum 
habitare potuit." — Vit. Henrici Norvicensis apud Wharton Orig. 
Sac ii. 359-69. 



xvn., xviii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 363 



Note XVII.— p. 35. 

The doubts cast upon the authority of the act are, I think, 
insufficient to shake it. To some observation, however, it is 
certainly liable. The Rot. Par. only says that it was " de con- 
sensu Regis, rnagnatum, procerum ;" and no mention is made 
of the Commons. But the Statute itself mentions the Com- 
mons. Again, the prelates in the Petition say nothing of the 
punishment ; so that, though the Commons assent with the Tem- 
poral Peers and the Crown, the Spiritual Peers give no con- 
sent to the whole act. But then the statute mentions the Prelates 
as well as the Temporal Peers. Perhaps, however, the most sus- 
picious circumstance is the place in which the Petition and answer 
are found on the Parliament Roll. The 46th and 47th entries 
are stated to be made of what passed the last day of Parliament, 
Thursday, March 10, 1401. The Parliament is then dissolved, 
the members dismissed, and their wages ordered ; and then comes 
the 48th entry, which is the petition of the clergy and the an- 
swer enacting also the punishment. But it must be admitted 
that in the 47th article the Commons thank the King for what 
had been enacted during the session to put down heresy, and no 
other enactment except the stat. de hcer. comb, appears to have 
been made, unless it be the writ for burning Sawtre, which is 
certainly entered Art. 20, as framed by advice of the Lords 
spiritual and temporal. There is also much irregularity in these 
entries : for example, one of the entries before the dissolution on 
the 10th of March bears date the 15th, if this be not an error in 
transcribing. 



Note XVIII.— p. 36. 

Dr. Lingard is mistaken in his statement that the Commons 
returned thanks specially for Sawtre's punishment (iii. 329). 
He cites the general thanks which they gave at the end of the 
session " for the good and just remedy which had been made and 



364 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xix., xx. 

ordained to the destruction of the heresy and the sect " (Rot. 
Par. iii. 466). Now, Dr. Lingard uses this passage (p. 330) as a 
proof that the Commons thanked the King for the statute, not for 
the writ ; and so, probably, must the thanks be read. If they 
refer to Sawtre's case, then one of Dr. Lingard's proofs that the 
statute had the consent of the Commons fails. He and others 
express doubt of the precise time of Sawtre's execution. But 
the writ or ordinance de comburendo W. Sawtre is tested 26th 
February, 1401 ; and though the entry on the Pari. Roll is 
2nd of March, that may be the day it received the Lords' assent, 
in anticipation of which it was probably framed. There can be 
little or no doubt then as to the time. 



Note XIX.— p. 41. 

T. Walsingham is the only authority on which the proposal 
of the Commons to Henry IV. has come down to us. We only 
find in Rot. Pari. iii. 623, that the Commons desired to have a 
petition returned to them which they had presented, and that it 
was given back with some reluctance, and a note that this pro- 
ceeding should not be drawn into a precedent. T. Walsingham, 
422, says that the petition came from " Milites parliamentales, 
vel ut dicam verius satellites Pilatales, in maligno positi, nulli 
commoditati regni studentes sed unum solummodo scelus molientes 
ut ecclesiam destituant." 



Note XX.— p. 46. 

After a solemn mass had been performed, he also offered to be 
treated as a traitor should he be found false in his protestations 
to Richard. {Relation de la Mort de Richard II.) He was the 
person who seized Richard. On Henry's landing, Salisbury, 
who had been sent into Wales by Richard, assembled 40,000 
men, but Henry is said to have collected 100,000. Richard, on 
the way to London, at Lichfield, attempted to escape by sliding 



xxi. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 365 

down from the tower window ; but he was taken in the garden. 
While on the journey a body of Londoners came to demand his 
head ; but Henry refused, and said he should let him be tried by 
the Parliament. As Richard rode through the city the mob re- 
viled him with the name of " little bastard," a calumny adopted 
in some proclamations of Henry which call him John de Bour- 
deaux. (Relation de la Mort de Hie. II. — Relation d'un JFran- 
cais, Temoin oculaire, au sujet de la Deposition de JRic. II. et 
de V Usurpation de Henri IV. — Chronicle of the Betrayal of 
Richard II, published in Archaeol. VI. by the Antiquarian 
Society.) This is the same with the work last cited, and it had 
been printed in France before the Society published this edition, 
assuming that the original remained still in MS. 



Note XXL— p. 49. 

Sir T. Blount was embowelled alive ; that is, placed upon a 
bench while only half hanged and yet alive, and his entrails 
forcibly torn out and burnt before his face ; cruel, taunting ex- 
pressions being at the same time used towards the sufferer. The 
i Relation de la Mort de Rich. II.' gives this shocking account 
of it : — " II se deboutonnat, et adonc le bourrel en y latta le ventre 
et luy coppa les boyaulx droit desous Testomac, et les noua d'une 
laniere que le vent ne partist hors de luy, et jetta les boyaulx 
dans le feu. Adonc Sir Thomas etait assis devant le feu, le 
ventre tout ouvert, et les vist ardoir les boyaulx devant luy." 

To the savage ferocity of the law was added the vile spite of 
the courtier. Sir Thomas Erpingham, the usurper's chamber- 
lain, must needs insult the victim of his cruelty, and whose only 
crime was the refusing to partake of his own treason : " Go," said 
he, " seek a master that can cure thee ! " Blount only answered 
by blessing God that he had been suffered to die for his lawful 
prince. (Relation, 232.) He refused to betray the names of his 
accomplices. (See the Crony cle of the Betrayal, p. 246.) 



366 NOTES AND ILLUSTBATIONS. xxn. 

Note XXII.— p. 49. 

T. Walsingham denies the murder altogether ; but he stands 
almost alone in this denial. His story of Richard starving him- 
self to death for grief at the conspiracy of his adherents being 
discovered, and at the death of his uncle, is altogether impro- 
bable ; for it is at variance with the whole character of the man 
(T. Wals. 404). The only other contemporary authority which 
can be cited for this statement is that of the ' Relation d'un Fran- 
cais, Temoin oculaire.' The author says that after the deposition 
he received Richard's permission to return to France, which indi- 
cates that he had been attached to his person. The narrative ends by 
saying that, on the defeat of Exeter's conspiracy, Richard " from 
grief refused to take any nourishment, and died of hunger." 

The ' Relation de la Mort de Rich. II.' gives the common 
account of Ex ton and seven others falling upon and des- 
patching him after he had killed four of them, and adds 
that the occasion taken for the violence was a squabble 
between the King and his carver. The Polychronicon, which 
joins in the account universally given that he was murdered, 
mentions the common opinion in England to be that he 
had died voluntarily, starving himself through grief, which was 
no doubt the tale circulated by Henry and his partisans, and 
the prevalence of the notion accounts for T. Walsingham's 
statement. (Polych. ccxxv.) Hardyng, a contemporary writer 
(for he was born in 1378, and entered Percy's service in 1390), 
says that Richard died in Pontefract Castle, and was buried 
privately at Langley, " for that men sholde have no remem- 
brance of him ;" but, he adds, " men sayde for hungered he was 
and lapped in lede " (ch. 66, p. 357). Fabyan, who lived a 
century later, for he was sheriff of London in 1493, gives it as 
clear that Sir Piers Exton slew him by Henry's command (568). 
It is remarkable that Froissart gives no intimation of Richard 
having come by his death through foul play. After frequently 
reciting the advice given to Henry that he should despatch him, 
and adding that he put these counsels aside, he merely says that 



xxii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 367 

he " could not learn how Richard's death happened, " and gives 
a pretty full account of his funeral. He adds, however, that his 
death had been expected for some time, " for it was well known 
he never would come out of the Tower alive " (Froiss. xii. 
c. 30, 31). The narrative of Froissart is full of inaccuracies ; 
among others he makes Richard remain in the Tower from the time 
he was seized. Some of the old writers mention an act, ordinance, 
or resolution of Henry's first parliament, declaring any attempt in 
Richard's favour treason, and ordering that if any such were made 
Richard himself should be killed first. But nothing of the kind is 
to be found either in the Statute Book or Parliament Rolls. A 
judgment is given, Rot. Par. iii. 452, by Chief Justice Thyrning, 
in the Lords, declaring certain appellants who are forfeited, but not 
hanged, to be guilty of treason if they shall adhere to Richard. 

Several ingenious men have exerted their skill in support of 
the notion that the man sometimes called "that foole in Scot- 
land " (as we have seen) was Richard, who had escaped from 
Pomfret Castle, and taken refuge there. That some such im- 
postor obtained credence for his story seems certain. But, not to 
mention many other proofs against the possibility of its being 
true, we may only refer to the undoubted fact that Henry had 
possession of James I.'s person during the greater part of 
his reign, and could, from the influence which that gave him 
over the Regent Albany, have easily obtained possession of 
Richard's person had he really been in Scotland. No one surely 
can suspect Henry of such kindness towards his dethroned kins- 
man, or such a tender conscience as to be glad the guilt of his 
death did not lie upon his soul, and yet upon no other supposi- 
tion is it possible to account for his not making the Scotch give 
him up had he been among them. Lord Dover, in an ingenious 
paper read before the Society of Antiquaries, and Mr. Tytler, 
in his excellent History of Scotland, are the principal advocates 
for this historical paradox. Sir J. Mackintosh has partly refuted 
it in his English History, but Mr. Amyot fully and unanswerably, 
Archseol. xxiii. 277, and xxv. 394. 

But it may be worth while to note the additional evidence 



368 NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. xxn. 

which the advocates of this opinion are supposed to have ob- 
tained from the late researches among our records. This evidence 
is given correctly, though with a great bias towards the opinion of 
Mr. Tytler and the others, in the preface to a late publication of 
the Historical Society, Le Chronique de la Traison et Mort de 
Rich. II, from a MS. in the King of France's library {see 
Appendix, 273). The main reliance is placed on a confession 
of one Pritewell, the gentleman in whose power the Earl of 
Huntingdon was found and arrested by Henry IV., and the con- 
fession of Thomas Abbot of Bylegh. These two confessions, 
however, are really only one statement ; for Pritewell tells a 
conversation he had with one Blyth, a knight, on Richard being 
still alive, and the abbot only tells that Pritewell and Blyth 
spoke together first apart, and then in the abbot's presence ; so 
that all turns on Blyth's story ; and it is to be observed that the 
abbot's account and Prite well's materially differ. But Pritewell 
himself deposes that he gave no credit to Blyth, because he 
found him out in two falsehoods, and he relates what these were. 
One was that Blyth said he was brought up in Richard's house- 
hold from a child, which Pritewell says he himself knew to be 
untrue ; the other w r as his saying he had been knighted by Percy 
on the field of battle, and alone so knighted, and also that he and 
Percy had the same coat armour, all which Pritewell knew to 
be false by a creditable man (Treval) who had seen " Percy both 
quick and dead." The abbot adds that Blyth tried to borrow 
armour and money of him, and he lent him some shillings. He 
further says that the abbot of Colchester had stated in council 
his having sent a man with a ring to Richard in Scotland, with 
directions to return if he found him alive, and that the man 
came back and was thrown into prison. All this plainly amounts 
to nothing. The existence of a Pretender or impostor is not 
denied, and that will account for all the stories in question. 
The concurrence of historians probably would be of no im- 
portance on this subject if they all copied one another, or 
all took the facts from one authority ; but the concurrence of 
contemporary writers which we have seen is very material. 



xxiii., xxiv. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 369 

Note XXIII.— p. 50. 

At Windsor a banquet and council was holden 1st of January, 
1399, when the archbishop and others on their knees besought 
Henry to put Richard to death. He said No, but promised on 
the first insurrection that broke out that Richard should be the 
first to die. This having happened at a council is probably the 
origin of the story given by historians of a statute having been 
made to this effect. No doubt the parliament were obsequious 
enough to pass any such law had the usurper deemed it necessary 
for his security ; but his having the power of assassination ren- 
dered any precaution of the kind superfluous. But it appears 
clear from what has just been stated that the time-serving digni- 
taries who surrounded him regarded complacently whatever he 
chose to do against his victim. 



Note XXIV.—p. 55. 

How little reliance is to be placed on Shakspeare's account 
of Henry V. is plain from his gross perversion of Sir J. Old- 
castle in Falstaff. The accounts in the Chronicles are extremely 
meagre respecting Henry's youth ; though all agree in de- 
scribing it as dissipated, if not dissolute. " Aforetime," says 
Holinshed, " he had made himself a companion unto misruled 
mates of dissolute order and life." (iii. 61.) " This man," says 
Fabyan, " before the death of his fader, apply d him unto all 
vyce and insolency, and drewe unto him all ryotous and wylde 
disposed persons" (577). T. Walsingham says he was suddenly 
changed into a new man, " honestati, modestiee, ac gravitati stu- 
dentem" (Hist. Ang. 426 ; Ypod. Neust. 178). " He had passed," 
says Hall, ;t his yonge age in wanton pastyme and riotous dis- 
order ;" and he gives the incident of his striking (as he asserts) 
the Chief Justice for an instance (46). " Changed from all 
vyces unto vertuous lyfe," says Hardy ng, 371. Stow speaks of 
his " insolency in youth," and of " his youthfulnesse," and gives 

2 B 



370 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xxv. 

his frolic of setting on his own receivers as an example (344-5). 
All these charges, however, clearly refer to dissipation, and riot, 
and keeping wild company. 



Note XXV.— p. 59. 

It is strange that the authorities so vary as to the date of 
James's capture, and, consequently, the period of his detention : 
most of them are agreed that he returned to Scotland early in 
1424. T. Wals. (417) gives 1406 as the year he was taken, 
Hardynge 1408, Holinshed 1406, but admitting that the Scotch 
writers make it 1404 (iii. 41). Hall and Stow give 1407. 
Fordun, however, may in this instance most safely be relied on, 
and he gives 1404 as the date, which may probably mean 1405, 
as the event happened very early in the year (Scoti-Cron. xv. 18). 
One authority says he was only fifteen years confined, which 
would make his capture have happened in 1409. The homage 
said by both Holinshed and Hall to have been done by him to 
Henry VI. before his return appears to be a mere imagination. 

The detention of James may be regarded as one of the darkest 
passages in the English history, and it is rendered still more 
discreditable to the nation by the abuse which some of our older 
writers lavish on that amiable and accomplished prince, charg- 
ing him with black ingratitude, because on his return to Scot- 
land he inclined occasionally to the policy of his country, and 
prosecuted the French alliance. The education which he received 
while detained, nay, the expense of his maintenance, is made the 
ground of this charge, equally ridiculous and unjust ; and even 
Mr. Hume valued so highly the benefits of his forced training, 
that he actually thinks " it made ample amends for his imprison- 
ment," which he only says proved Henry IV. somewhat deficient 
in generosity. (History of England, chap, xviii.) Surely the 
historian is highly censurable who utters sentiments so subver- 
sive of all just moral feelings. As for the zealots of national 
prejudice, who tax him with ingratitude, it would be difficult 



xxvi. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 371 

for them to show how James, after his best days had, against all 
law and right, been spent in a cruel captivity, could ever hear 
the name of England pronounced without horror. 



Note XXVI.— p. 62. 

Nothing but ignorance both of our history and our ancient 
law could ever have led to any doubt of Sir J. Oldcastle's being 
a peer. In that age the husband of a baroness in her own right 
was not only in practice summoned by writ to sit for her barony, 
but was held to have a right to the summons (Collins, Bar. by 
Writ — Maddox, Bar.) ; and Sir John Oldcastle, having married 
the heiress of the Cobham barony, was summoned to sit in the 
four last parliaments of Henry IV. and the first of Henry V. 
It is now settled law that any one summoned and sitting takes 
a barony in fee (or rather in fee-tail) ; therefore Sir John Old- 
castle had such a barony, whether he took in right of his wife or 
not : the only doubt might be whether, had his wife left no issue 
by him, his barony would have descended to the issue of another 
marriage — probably it would not ; for the summons calling him 
by his wife's barony might be supposed to resemble the calling 
up of an heir apparent by his father's barony, which does not 
create a new peerage, but only advances a person alioqui suc- 
cessurus.. However, this is not the same case, though it may 
be a similar one to the marital summons, as the party so called 
is not alioqui successurus. The peerages of which we are 
speaking were said to be by the courtesy ; and, like estates held 
by that tenure, only vested if there were issue born of the mar- 
riage. It must, however, be admitted that the subject is not 
free from difficulty. But nothing can be more certain than the 
existence of such peerages, and that Sir J. Oldcastle enjoyed 
one is beyond all possible question. Considerable doubt pre- 
vailed in Lord Coke's time and later as to the right of persons 
who had married peeresses in their own right to a courtesy in 
these dignities. Lord Coke (Co. Litt. 29, a.) will not pro- 

2 b 2 



372 NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. xxvu. 

nounce any opinion, but after citing two cases adds, " Utere 
tuo judicio, nihil enim impedio." Hargrave (note 167) appears 
not to have been aware of the many cases of summoning by the 
courtesy to parliament in older times. Lord Hale (MS.) ex- 
presses no doubt of the title by courtesy. Com. (Dig. Estates, 
D. 1) seems to incline to the same opinion, for he speaks of a 
dignity as holden by the courtesy, but he cites as the only au- 
thority Co. Litt. 29. Certain it is that no such claim has ever 
been allowed (perhaps none has ever been made) since Lord 
Coke's time. 

This great man (Cobham) is the original after which Shakspeare 
drew his Falstaff, as we learn from Fuller's Church History. At 
first he retained the name, as we perceive, by a vile pun adapted to 
it, and not changed when the name of Oldcastle was dropped. 
" My old lad of the Castle," says the Prince to Falstaff. Sis- 
mondi (Hist, des Fran. xiii. 97, et passim) always calls the Ge- 
neral Sir J. Fastolf, Falstaff. M. Barante (Dues de Bourg., Phil, 
le Bon, liv. ii.) has not been misled by the comedies : he gives 
the General his right name. Perhaps it may not be thought 
much to the honour of our national taste, or our refined ideas 
of the dramatic art, that in our most popular comedies we still 
have one of the most brave, virtuous, and pious men of his day 
figuring on the stage as a buffoon, a coward, and a thief. 



Note XXVIL— p. 66. 

The story told by Bale (Brefe Chronycle of Sir J. Oldcastle, 
the Lord Cobham, Har. Mis. ii. 259) and credited by some 
others, that before the King he said he appealed to the Pope, 
and therefore declined the Primate's jurisdiction, must be wholly 
groundless. Such an appeal was not only sure to irritate the 
King (the tale, indeed, says " he was moche more displeased 
than afore, and spoke angrily to him "), but it was wholly in- 
consistent with Cobham's known principles ; and the sentence 
against him which recites all the proceedings before the King, 



xxviii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 373 

as well as at Cowling and in court, makes no mention of it what- 
ever. Now it would have been the most triumphant answer to 
great part, perhaps the most offensive part, of his heresy had he 
ever appealed to Rome. The offer of 100 compurgations, and 
of justifying himself by duel " with any man living, Christian 
or heathen, in the quarrel of his faith," is equally improbable. 
Cobham had, as he seemed to say on his examination, long out- 
lived such wicked vanities. No mention whatever is made of 
Cobham's " arrogance," except in so far as it might be collected 
from his expressions. T. Walsingham's account is taken in every 
particular from the sentence {Hist. Ang. 426 ; Ypod. Neust. 
179). It must be added, that the whole evidence in Cobham's 
favour and against his persecutors rests on their own state- 
ments. 



Note XXVIII.— p. 80. 

A minute examination of T. Wals. lends little credit to his 
testimony, if, indeed, he really meant to give it against Cobham. 
That noted enemy of the Lollards is most cautious how he 
charges them with any secular offence. That the King received 
the secret information from some of the conspirators, he affirms 
broadly. But though no doubt exists that he received secret 
information, yet there is nothing to show that it proceeded from 
the conspirators. It is perfectly possible that the enemies of the 
Lollards gave the information, knowing of a meeting about to 
be held. All the rest in T. "Wals. is given as rumour — "ut 
ferebatur," " prout fertur," " qui dicebatur conspirasse in de- 
structionem regis," &c. — Hist. Ang. 431 ; Ypod. Neust. 183. 
Next — meagre as T. Walsingham's story is, the improbability of its 
being true in some particulars may be taken to discredit the whole. 
He speaks of crowds coming from almost every county in Eng- 
land, " collected by promises of pay to assemble at the same 
day and hour " (430) ; a movement at any time of the utmost 
difficulty, and in those days of imperfect communication abso- 
lutely impossible. The reason given by T. Wals. for the 



374 NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. xxvm. 

King's preferring to attack in the "night, is for fear the rioters 
should destroy the monastery of St. Alban's, twenty miles off, 
as well as those of Westminster and St. Paul's. He describes 
the crowds collected from all England as in consternation (con- 
sternatio) at not being joined by the Londoners. Again — he 
states that it was reported (prout fertur) that had not the gates 
been closed 50,000 would have gone out against the King, 
whereas the population of the city could not at that time have 
furnished half the number of men able to bear arms, had the 
whole been Lollards ; not to mention that a report of the num- 
bers that would have joined is more than suspicious. He tells 
us of a person at Dunstable, a supposed follower of Cobham, 
who was not only to have been made a knight by him, for which 
ceremony he had his spurs ready, but also created Earl of Hert- 
ford, with a grant of the monastery lands of St. Alban's ; there 
being found upon him a list of the monks, obtained from the 
Precentor, for the purpose of killing them — as if they could not 
have been killed without a list, when the tonsure and dress at 
once showed the monk. 

Fuller {Church Hist., cent. xv. p. 168), though he notes the 
very suspicious circumstance of 20,000 being said to have assem- 
bled, and only three of the whole being named, yet will not 
venture to decide either way. What weighs with him is the 
Record and the Act of Parliament. But to say nothing of the 
facility with which the ruling party in those times obtained 
Acts of Parliament, as the whole reigns of Richard II., Henry 
IV., and Henry VI. show, nothing can be more suspicious than 
the record on which the Act proceeds, and on which Fuller's 
doubt hangs. 

If the Rolls are correct both in the transcribing and the 
printing, there is nearly an end of the question. The teste of 
the Special Commission is the Wednesday next after Epiphany 
— the indictment lays the offence as committed (the overt act by 
assembling) on the same day. But passing that over, although 
the pardons all state the offence as committed on Wednesday, 
10th January (Bym. ix. 171, 219), Epiphany in 1414 fell on 



xxviii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 375 

Saturday. Therefore the Special Commission issued on Wed- 
nesday, 10th. The proclamation against Cobham sets forth that 
the prisoners were on the 11th of January lying under sentence — 
ad mortem judicati ; and this is true, as they only suffered on 
the 12th. But then if there was any real trial, how could the 
bill be found by the Grand Jury which is set out in the Special 
Commission, and the petty jury be summoned, and the trial had, 
all on the day the commission bears date ? Even if the con- 
viction took place the day after, and on the same day the pro- 
clamation issued, the difficulty is but little removed. The 
assemblage took place on Sunday, 7th January, at night ; the 
prisoners were taken early on Monday, the 8th, and sent to gaol. 
A bill must have been preferred and found on the next day, a 
commission issued the day after, and on the same or the follow- 
ing day the 27 or 39 prisoners, including three men of dis- 
tinction, tried and convicted. Then at least some were burnt 
as heretics, and all are said to have been convicted of heresy as 
well as treason. How was their heresy tried ? The Spiritual 
Court is not pretended even to have been assembled ; and if it 
had, assuredly its proceedings could not have been brought 
within the compass of a day or two. We have the spiritual 
sentence against Cobham, and that sentence is inserted in the 
act attainting him. Against Acton, Browne, and Beverly we 
have no sentence whatever. "Were all the prisoners considered 
to be persons who had comforted and abetted Cobham after 
his conviction, because some of the mob said Cobham was their 
leader ? But even then, the sentence against them forming part 
of Cobham's is only excommunication, and not delivering them 
over to the secular arm. If all these things had been duly con- 
sidered by historians, they would have seen far more reason than 
they appear to have had for doubting that there ever even ex- 
isted a record until Cobham being taken was to be attainted, 
and for questioning if there ever was a trial. 

But some historians take the opposite side, and hold it clear 
that there was a conspiracy and an insurrection. The habitual 
carelessness (not to say bad faith) of Mr. Hume seems on this 



376 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xxvm. 

subject to have surpassed itself. He says — " the designs of the 
conspirators were rendered certain both from the evidence at the 
trial and the confessions of the conspirators themselves " {Hist., 
chap. xix.). For this he cites Cotton, Ab. 554 ; Hall, 35 ; and 
Hoi. 544. 

Now, not one of these authorities at all bears him out. 
Neither they, nor any other, nor any record, make the least 
mention of a trial having ever been had, or evidence given, if 
we except the Royal proclamation, which only says, the prisoners 
lay under sentence ; and the pardons to others than those exe- 
cuted in January ? which state that they were convicted (Rym. ix. 
90, 170, 293). 

Cotton merely gives a short statement of the entry in the Parlia- 
ment roll, which states nothing of trial, conviction, or confession, 
but only Cobham's outlawry. Hall says nothing of trial, evi- 
dence, or confession, except that some of the rioters " brought 
into the King's presence declared the causes of their commocion 
and rysing, accusing a great number of their sect/' But he not 
only says nothing of what it was they so declared, but he adds 
that not having seen the confession he could say nothing of it. 
He then mentions the various accounts which different men had 
given of the matter, as that the prisoners were punished for aid- 
ing Cobham's escape, that it was all a fiction of the clergy, that 
all is not as true as gospel, &c. No one who reads Hall can doubt 
that his opinion leans that way. Lastly, Holinshed says that 
" the captives brought before the King declared the causes ;" or 
nearly in Hall's words, and not stating what the causes were. 
But suppose we admit that he means the conspiracy alleged, he 
refers to T. Wals. as his authority, and that writer says not a 
word of any confession by the prisoners, either when tried or 
when brought before the King ; all he says is that when asked 
whom they were going to join, some said Lord Cobham. Hume's 
statement, therefore, is a mere fiction, and wholly unsupported 
by the authorities which he cites. The story of any evidence 
being adduced at all is a pure fable. The story of anything to 
be called a confession is equally fabulous. There is but one 



xxviii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 377 

mention of any such thing in the record, if record it can be 
called. The pardon issued at the end of March, after the exe- 
cution, states that persons convicted had confessed (notorie con- 
fessi fuerint), Rym. ix. 119. But it is most suspicious that 
not a word of this confession is to be found in the earlier pro- 
clamation, that of 11th of January, nor in the subsequent act 
attainting" Cobham. 

Dr. Lingard (iii. 330), though a Roman Catholic, and writing 
under a strong prejudice against Cobham, will only venture to 
say that "the object of the leaders was, if we may credit royal 
proclamations and parliamentary records," &c. Yet even he 
forgets that these records contain only an indictment and no 
other proof, or, indeed, statement whatever, except the outlawry 
of one man never tried or convicted ; nay, that the records do 
not set forth any trial or conviction of any person. The proof 
of any trial ever having taken place rests upon the proclamations 
only. These state — one, 1 1 th of July, that the parties had been 
condemned ; and several others in November and December fol- 
lowing, that different individuals pardoned had pleaded, been 
tried, and been convicted (Rym. ix. 171, 119). In speaking of 
the numbers assembled, Dr. Lingard (iii. 336) says, " they were 
calculated to amount to 20,000." By whom calculated ? His 
only authority is the indictment, and Cotton reads 20,000 to be 
an error, and says only 20 were present, in which he is probably 
mistaken. But Dr. Lingard ought to have known that such an 
averment in the indictment was immaterial. In modern criminal 
pleadings it is usually laid " with divers others." But be it so 
or not, the averment proves nothing. Dr. Lingard should also 
have noted the extremely suspicious circumstances of the whole 
proceeding, especially the privacy of it. 

No student of history can adequately express his gratitude to 
the learned, able, and truly interesting researches of Mr. Brodie, 
by which other portions of Mr. Hume's History are sifted and dis- 
credited, Mr. John Allen's controversies with Dr. Lingard also 
shed a useful light on many passages of our historical antiquities. 



378 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xxix.-xxxi. 



Note XXIX.— p. 82. 

T. Walsingham gives all these things as rumours which he 
credits, with his usual " fertur" and " dicebatur." His account 
of Cobham's supposed concealment is curious enough, and be- 
trays its own absurdity. He was obliged, it says, to change his 
hiding place ; so he came to St. Alban's under the very eye of his 
bitter and powerful adversary. He there remained some days 
with a peasant, " habentis ibidem idoneam mansionem " (Hist. 
Ang., 477). To make the whole more credible, all three things 
are said to have happened at the same time — the interview at 
Pontefract, the affair at St. Alban's, and the real scene in Wales. 



Note XXX.— p. 83. 

T. Wals., Hist. Ang.,44:S. He must be read with the Record 
or Rot. Par. iv. 107, which checks him, but makes no mention 
of what Cobham did say upon the chief -justice interrupting him. 
T. Walsingham says of this that when he preached (predicavit) 
of Divine Mercy, and the duty of the lords to imitate it, the 
chief-justice reminded the Regent, who presided, not to suffer the 
prisoner " inaniter tempus terere et assistentes regni proceres 
molestare," this magistrate holding it an idle waste of time that 
the judges of a man already convicted and asked what he could 
offer in mitigation or in arrest of judgment, should allow him 
to be heard in his own behalf. 



Note XXXI.— p. 90. 

Neither of the opinions adopted by historians as to the origin 
of this war appear to be tenable. Hall, Holinshed, Fabyan, and 
after them Goodwin, Hume (Hist. c. xix.), and Duck. Life of 
Chichele (who, however, had access to other materials), all 
describe the war as an invention of the clergy for the purpose of 



xxxi. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 379 

occupying the King- and saving their own revenues menaced by 
the Lollard party. On the other hand, Dr. Lingard (iii. 337) 
takes no notice whatever of the clerical interference, as if he 
considered the whole to be a fiction ; and certainly both T. 
Walsingham and Hardinge are silent upon the subject, as is a 
much later writer, Stow. The Polychronicon steers a middle 
course, not like the first set of authorities ascribing the whole to 
the clergy, nor like the last denying their interference altogether, 
but giving it as certain that they encouraged Henry, and stating 
it as reported that they had set him on for their own objects. 

It seems quite certain that the account given by the first set 
of writers, Hall, Holinshed, Fabyan, and followed by later 
authorities, is a great exaggeration. The minute description of 
the speeches, especially in Hall, must be in a great measure 
fictitious. They do not distinctly tell us where the discussion 
took place. The King's own inclinations were well known 
long before the attempt made at Leicester by the Lollard party, 
and what makes an end of this system altogether, we know that 
the negotiation had been going on nine months before. The 
account of the demand made of the French crown and provinces 
is given in Rymer (ix. 209), where we have an official transcript 
of a protocol, the discussions recorded in which took place as 
early as August, 1413. There is in the Records always an ob- 
scurity as to dates, arising from the fractional part of the year, 
according to the difference of the styles, and some have sup- 
posed that the August in which the first demand is said (Rym. 
ix. 209) to have been made was August, 1414, and not 1413. 
But this is impossible ; for the introduction to the transumpt 
(Rym. ix. 208) states the demand of it to have been made 12th 
of January, 1415, and then sets forth claims as made by the 
English ambassadors February, 1414; and the claim is then set 
forth as having been made of the Duke de Bern on the part of 
France in payment of the last year ; and accordingly that and 
the reply of the ambassador are given, dated 13th of March, 1414, 
so that it is impossible the 1414 twice mentioned should mean 
1415, and August refer to 1414, because the date of 12th of 



380 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xxxi. 

January, 1414, precludes the "giving of any documents dated 
February and March, 1415. It is true that we have no powers 
to the English ambassadors so early as August, 1413, nor any 
safe-conduct of that period. But we have (Rym. ix. 34) the 
appointment and powers of ambassadors 14th of January, 1413, 
to the Duke of Burgundy to treat of alliance as well as peace — 
and at that time he was in possession of the chief power in 
France — so that the demand may have been made before he was 
driven out. The argument, however, against the opinion we 
are considering, is as strong, if, instead of August, 1413, we 
only take the negotiation and demand of Catherine to have been 
made in January, 1414, and of that, at the latest, we are certain 
by the first promise not to marry any but Catherine ; it bears date 
28th of January, 1414, long before the parliament at Leicester 
(Rym. ix. 103). 

On the other hand, we are not authorized to reject the whole 
account given by so many old writers, and which labours under 
no load of improbability. The silence of T. "Walsingham is by 
no means a sufficient ground for rejecting it, because these are 
the kind of facts which that chronicler is least curious in detail- 
ing, and also because whatever might do honour to Chichele 
(which he was sure to think this would) he might be inclined 
to omit when not essential to his history. His prejudice against 
the primate was founded on his known hatred of the monks — 
" bilem suam" as he terms it {Hist. 433). 

The speeches set down, especially in Hall, are plainly exag- 
gerations. The primate is made to say, " Wherefore avance 
forth your banner, fighte for your ryghte, conquer your inherit- 
ance, spare nor sworcle, blucl or fyre ; your warre is just, your 
cause is good, and your clame true ; and therefore, conquerors, 
set forward your warre against your enemies " (52). Perhaps, 
however, in those days a Christian pastor was allowed to hold 
such language without incurring any blame. The primate cites, 
or is made to cite, many authorities, sacred and profane, against 
the Salic law; among others our Saviour deriving his title 1o 
the kingdom of Judah through his mother (52). 



xxxii., xxxiii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 38 1 



Note XXXII.— p. 92. 

My reason for believing that the clergy made such an attempt 
is, that we find a distinct statement by some writers that a law 
was passed forbidding, under pain of death, the use of the trans- 
lation of the Bible, with particulars of the enactments. Bale 
{Harl. Misc. ii. 275) says that the act made it death to read the 
Scriptures in the mother tongue, " called Wycliffe's learning," 
and that the benefit of sanctuary was denied to such offenders. 
He gives the first words of the act, which, however, are those of 
the statute 2 Hen. V. c. 7, and it contains no such provision. 
Walden {ad Papam) gives the same account of the supposed 
act. He says that many suffered under it, and mentions Aston 
and Badly, who both suffered for heresy under the statute of 
Henry IV. Goodwin {Life Hen. V. 39) follows these autho- 
rities. The probability is that a bill to this effect was pre- 
sented and rejected, or possibly the attempt failed to have such 
a bill even presented. 



Note XXXIII. — p. 95.— On the Burgundian Intrigue. 

This is one of the most obscure passages in the history of the 
times, if we confine our remarks to the published documents— at 
least to those which are in most men's hands. Three instruments 
remain under the King's hand, all tested and dated at Leicester, 
4th of June, 14 J 4. The first is the appointment of Lord 
le Scroop of Masham, Henry's confidant, and four others as 
ambassadors to treat with " his dearest cousin John Duke of 
Burgundy, Count of Flanders," four ambassadors being stated to 
have arrived from him to treat of alliance and of the King's mar- 
riage " with the Lady Catherine, our said cousin's daughter." 
This instrument gives the ambassadors full powers to contract 
the marriage " per verba de presenti," and in all other ways. 
The second contains full powers to make alliances with the Duke ; 
and the third empowers them to receive the Duke's homage 



382 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xxxm. 

and fealty as the King's vassal ; it is not specified for what 
holding (Rym. ix. 136). 

There are only three suppositions upon which this negotiation 
can be explained or understood. It may be, as it purports, a 
negotiation for the marriage of Henry with Catherine of Bur- 
gundy, the Duke joining him against France, and holding his 
fiefs as a vassal of France, not of the French crown, but of 
Henry, the competitor for the crown ; and this system requires no 
supposition of an error in the date or in the tenor of the instru- 
ments ; — or it may be that these were executed in 1413 instead of 
1414, and the lady is misdescribed as the Duke's daughter ; — or it 
may be that, though the date is right, the lady is misdescribed. 
The death of Le Scroop in August, 1415, makes it impossible 
that the negotiation should have taken place after the successes 
of the war ; and there is nothing in the relative position of the 
parties which can point to 1415 rather than 1413. 

1. The argument against the first hypothesis is, that it imputes 
the grossest treachery to Henry ; for he had only five days be- 
fore, namely 31st of May, 1414, given full powers to the Bishops 
of Durham and Norwich and five others, his ambassadors, to treat 
with the French King (adversarius noster) for peace, and for his 
marriage with the Lady Catherine, " our said adversary's 
daughter," and he had bound himself several times before that 
date to marry no other woman but her before a time not expired 
on the 4th of June — namely, before St. John's day, 24th of 
June — and he afterwards on the 18th of June further extended 
the period within which he should not marry to the 1st of 
August, which again was on the 22nd of June extended to 
whichever day his ambassadors might name, in case there should 
be any delay in concluding the treaty (Rym. ix. 103. 131. 140). 
It is also to be observed that no historian in common vogue 
makes any specific mention of this offer of Catherine of Bur- 
gundy's hand by her father. 

On the other hand the instruments in question are all dated at 
Leicester, where Henry was, at least immediately before their 
date, holding his parliament. Nothing, indeed, appears to have 



xxxhi. NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 383 

been done there after Tuesday the 29th of May (Mot. Par. 
iv. 174), the meeting having been Monday the 30th of April; 
and it is certain that a writ issued at Leicester bears date 30th of 
May (Rym. ix. 131), and another at Westminster 31st May (id. 
133), with two on the 1st and 2nd June respectively, also at West- 
minster (id. 1 33-5). But then we have safe-conducts for the Duke's 
ambassadors in January and April of that year (id. 120. 112) ; and 
it appears from a warrant of Privy Seal to the Exchequer, dated 
expressly 7th of December, 2 Hen. V. — that is, 1414 (the safe- 
conducts having no year, id. 189), that a sum is issued to repay R. 
Leeche, treasurer of the household, the expenses he had incurred 
for the Duke of Burgundy's ambassadors between 19th of April 
and 1 1th of June, and there is another item in the same warrant for 
expenses of one of the Duke's people incurred at Leicester during 
four days of June. Thus it is certain that those persons were 
then at Leicester, and consequently the three instruments under 
consideration might well bear that date, the King remaining a 
day or two after the prorogation. So that the mere want of any 
entry on the Rolls after the 30th of May cannot be taken as a 
proof that the prorogation took place before June. 

2. The second supposition is nearly disposed of by these im- 
portant particulars respecting the dates. But it may still be 
suggested that the negotiation was in 1413, and that the King was 
then at Leicester. The inducement to make this supposition is 
that in June, 1413, the Burgundian had succeeded in seizing the 
government at Paris, which he held from the 28th of April till late 
in July of that year (31ezeray, i. 1 002 ; Art de verifier les Dates, 
i. 606; Rym. ix. 51), and so he may have treated with Henry 
as Charles VI. had been doing, and may have called the Lady 
Catherine his daughter, he being head of the government, as if he 
had said Daughter of France. There is, however, almost insur- 
mountable difficulty in this hypothesis ; for we have no proof 
whatever of any negotiation with Charles VI. touching the mar- 
riage before August, 1413 (Rym. ix. 212). Moreover, the am- 
bassadors employed in England to treat with France are wholly 
different from those employed to treat with the Burgundian; 



384 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xxxm. 

and lastly, the treaty with him was to be of alliance and doing 
homage. 

3. The third hypothesis is barely possible. It gets over the 
question of the dates, and only assumes an error in the descrip- 
tion of Catherine. But there is a very formidable difficulty in 
the way of our adopting it, for the Burgundian in the year 1414 
was wholly removed from power in France. He had been re- 
pulsed in an attempt, ill contrived with his son-in-law the 
Dauphin, to enter Paris ; the Dauphin had even abandoned him 
and joined the Orleans party on finding the Duke's influence fail- 
ing ; John's partisans, the Paris mob, had been disarmed ; he 
had himself been pursued into his Flemish states by the French 
King, or those then acting in his name, at the head of a powerful 
force which entirely ravaged the Burgundian territories ; his own 
brother Nevers had left his party ; the loss of Arras, his capital 
in Artois, had only been prevented by the forbearance of his 
son-in-law the Dauphin, who desired to humble but not to destroy 
him ; peace had been granted to him on the express condition of 
his making neither truce nor treaty with England on pain of 
death ; and finally the Dauphin had been declared Regent of 
France (Mez., i. 998. 1003, 1004; P. Daniel). This most un- 
principled man, therefore, at length humbled, could in 1414 take 
no step whatever with respect to Catherine of France ; nor was 
he ever likely to prove a very powerful ally to Henry, whose 
main object in treating with him must have been to prevent an 
attack on Calais while he made his inroad into Normandy, and 
to obtain his support and fealty if he should succeed against 
Charles — so that the negotiation for Catherine of France's hand 
was impossible at the time in question, though there was suffi- 
cient inducement to treat for the Burgundian's neutrality and 
ultimate alliance. 

But it is certain that the Duke had a daughter named Cathe- 
rine. She had been, by the Treaty of Chartres in 1409, promised 
to the Count de Vertues, one of Orleans' sons. In the following 
year she was betrothed — some have said married — {U Art de 
verifier les Dates, ii. 518) to Louis of Anjou, son of the titular 



xxxiii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 385 

King of Sicily, then a child of seven years old (Rel. de St. 
Denys, liv. xxxiii. c. 18). She certainly was delivered over by 
her father to that Prince's family, but some time*after, pro- 
bably three years (Juv. des Urs., 203, 267 ; Monst., ch. cxii. 
and lxi.), she was sent back, it clearly appears, unmarried, and 
she died some years later at Ghent unmarried. From the dates 
of the Burgundian's own marriage, 9th of April, 1385, and 
of the births of his children, Catherine being the fourth, and 
from the fact that she died at the age of thirty-two, it is cer- 
tain that she was alive after 1414 (Dom Planchet, iii. 553 ; 
L'Art de verifier les Dates, ii. 515-8; Monstrel., ch. cxii.). 
Monstrelet, with his known inaccuracy as to dates (ch. civ.), 
makes the Burgundian when in Paris (May, 1413) exceedingly 
hurt at the Count de Vertues' going off to Orleans, because he 
hoped to marry him to his daughter, who yet had in 1410 been 
sent to Angers to be married to Louis of Anjou (a Guise) by 
Monstrelet 's own account (ch. lxi.), and was only sent back the 
20th of November, 1413, as he says ch. cxii. 

Two other circumstances may be stated, bearing in the same 
direction. First, there was evidently great jealousy of the Bur- 
gundian's intrigues with England, especially of his marrying one 
of his daughters to an English prince. In November, 1413, the 
French King sent an embassy to him requiring certain cessions, 
and further that he would on no account treat with England 
for the marriage of his daughter or otherwise. Several edicts 
were also published during that winter, evincing extreme anxiety 
for preserving the peace lately made, and manifestly pointed against 
the Duke, who in an elaborate defence seems to justify himself 
before the King {MonstreL, ch. cxii.). In the spring following 
he made his last attempt upon Paris, when the Dauphin, in his 
hostility to his mother, with his accustomed vacillation, first in- 
vited the Burgundian thither, and then suddenly repented of 
what he had done. The Duke, therefore, when he had got as far 
as St. Denys, finding even his own mob refusing to support him, 
marched back. 

Secondly. Towards the end of the last reign, February, 1412, 

2 c 



386 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. mm. 

the Burgundian had sent an embassy to Henry IV. to treat of 
alliance, and to offer the Prince of Wales one of his daughters, 
the PrincSIs Anne, afterwards married to the Duke of Bedford 
{Rym. viii. 721). 

The persons specified as the Burgundian ambassadors may be 
regarded as an additional proof that it was not in his capacity of 
a French ruler that he negotiated with Henry V., for they are 
plainly designated as Flemings. 

A subsequent negotiation took place on the eve of the expe- 
dition against France, to which the unprincipled Burgundian had 
apparently consented, and it led to his neutrality, as we shall pre- 
sently see {Rym. ix. 304, 10 Aug. 1415). 

Beside those already referred to, we find other traces of the Bur- 
gundy intrigue, though no specific mention of Catherine's hand. 
T. Wals. {Hist. Ang. 432 ; Ypod. Nenst. 184) says that at 
Leicester there came both ambassadors from France and Bur- 
gundy, the Duke desiring to strengthen himself against the 
Orleans or Armagnac party, and " promising more than he could 
perform," and that Henry sent messages to him in return. Mons- 
trelet, too, a contemporary writer, and though leaning so much 
towards the party as to pass for a Burgundian (which, how r ever, 
is denied by Dacier, Mem. Acad, des Inscriptions, xliii.), tells us 
(ch. cix.) that in September or October, 1413, Henry sent an 
embassy to the Duke to treat of marrying his daughter, though 
he was then in treaty with France on the same subject ; and 
that soon after All Saints (1st Nov.) the same year the King of 
France sent to forbid any such treaty (ch. ex.) ; and certainly 
the Duke defends himself from the charge of offering Henry his 
daughter with a dower of Cherbourg and Caen, in his detailed 
vindication from many true charges, dated 16th Nov. 1413 
(ch. cxii.). Now this date is inconsistent with the statement of 
Monstrelet, that Catherine was only sent back to her father 
20th of November. But Monstrelet is never to be trusted as 
to any date ; though, except in his chronology, there is gene- 
rally no impeachment of his accuracy. It is also possible that 
another daughter might be in contemplation. 



xxxni. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 387 

The History of Burgundy by Dora Planchet (1748) is a 
work of high authority, having been compiled by the author, a 
friar of Dijon, from original papers and archives. In torn. iii. 
p. 409, we find it stated that a treaty was concluded at Lan- 
caster (evidently Leicester) between Henry and the Burgundian, 
binding the former to send 2000 archers and 500 men-at-arms 
to the assistance of the latter in his war with the Dauphin, and 
stipulating that Henry should have in marriage either of his 
daughters, Catherine aged 13, or Anne aged 1 1 ; that he preferred 
Catherine on the report of the Burgundian ambassadors, and 
soon after sent an embassy to treat in his name. His proxy is 
given, and is dated 4th June, 1414. The historian adds that the 
result of this embassy is not known. 

But there exists in the MSS. among the archives of the Bib. 
du Roi at Paris the draft of a treaty ( Tabula Foederis) entered 
into at Leicester, 23rd May, 1414, between Henry and Bur- 
gundy. The ambassadors on Henry's part were the Bishop of 
St. Asaph and Le Scroop. The Duke's ambassador proposed 
two daughters. Henry says he prefers Catherine ; but because 
no one has seen her on his part, he wishes to postpone the final 
decision till other matters are settled. The Duke offers to serve 
Henry in seizing the country of France, excepting Alencon, 
Albret, Bourbon, and Berri — to divide the spoil " like brothers" 
pro rata of the forces employed by each. The Burgundian 
ambassadors propose that Henry should send ambassadors to see 
Catherine, and with full powers. This is agreed to. A treaty 
is afterwards made at Ypres, 7th Aug., 1414, between the same 
parties, and refers to the demand made by Henry, that if he 
should attempt to seize the kingdom and crown, the Burgundian 
should with his people offer no obstacle, and states the latter's 
acquiescence. It is to be observed that the very next day, 8th 
Aug., 1414, Henry's embassy to the French King is sent to ask 
Catherine of France's hand, and the duchy of G-uienne and county 
of Ponthieu. The Duke de Berri's answer was, that neither the 
King (Charles VI.) nor Dauphin were at Paris (Croniques de 
Gestes advenues au Royaume du temps de Charles VI.). 

2 C 2 



388 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xxxni. 

Upon the whole, I fear we must admit that the balance in- 
clines very strongly to the first hypothesis, and against the good 
faith of Henry, even upon the authority of the contemporary 
writers and documents already before the world. But there are 
more direct proofs, which appear to remove all doubt from the 
question, as we have just seen. 

The length to which this discussion has extended is necessary 
to the forming a just estimate of Henry's character, and, indeed, 
to the obtaining an accurate view of the morality of the times. 
It proves that this prince, whose frank, generous nature has so 
much won for his memory the respect of the people, was engaged 
in a perfidious intrigue with the most, profligate and unprincipled 
personage of the age — a man stained with the blood of his 
nearest kinsman, and, if possible, more infamous for his shameless 
avowal of the murder, and his impudent justification of it — an 
intrigue, too, in which Henry is proved to have sought the hand 
of one princess in marriage, pledging his royal word to marry no 
other until she was refused him, and to have on the same day 
accepted the offer of another princess's hand in order to gain her 
father's assistance in an unjust war. 

Respecting the conduct of the Burgundian, history leaves no 
doubt whatever, except only such as rests upon some imputations, 
as upon some against our Richard III., which we are cautioned 
to doubt because of the general tendency to believe everything 
that is laid to his charge. To this class belongs the report that 
he had caused his son-in-law the Dauphin Louis to be poisoned. 
Of the state to which his intrigues and his violence had reduced 
Paris when he obtained the mastery we have a most touching 
description in the French King's letter to Henry, 18th Sep- 
tember, 1413 (Rym. ix. 51). One passage is remarkable for 
its description of Paris as it then was and has occasionally been 
since, in language borrowed with a slight variation from the 
classics (Sail. Cat. xxxvii.) : — " Nam semper in civitate quibus 
opes nullae sunt, bonis invident, nialos extollunt, Vetera odere, 
nova exoptant, odio suarum rerum omnia mutare et miscere stu- 
dent. Turba et seditiones sine cura aluntur." The effect pro- 



xxxiv., xxxv. NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 389 

duced on Henry by the sad story of his royal brother was only 
to encourage his intrigue wilh the wrong-doer and his attacks 
upon the injured party. (See Note LXII. infra.) 



Note XXXIV.— p. 104. 

Stow misplaces the conference at Winchester. — Monstrelet 
gives the Primate's speech as perfectly offensive, demanding on 
Henry's part the duchies of Aquitaine and Normandy, with 
Anjou, Poitou, Tours, Ponthieu, and Maine, under the threat of 
despoiling the whole kingdom, and by his sword depriving Charles 
of his crown : to all which Henry assented and promised he 
would so act, on the word of a king. But Stow makes the Arch- 
bishop of Bourges only lecture Henry on his unjust project of 
shedding much blood, and affirm that the large offers made by 
Fiance were for peace-sake alone. Monstrelet makes the Arch- 
bishop conclude with a warning that Henry was rushing to his 
own destruction, and that if captured he would be put to death. 
(Ch. cxl.) 



Note XXXV.— p. 115. 

The English historians are fond of describing Henry as having 
prevented all complaints of the inhabitants by paying for what 
he took and prohibiting plunder. They give one instance of a 
soldier having been hanged for it, but it was for the sacrilege of 
stealing the pix from a church and eating the Eucharist ; and the 
same authors distinctly state, forgetting their panegyric, that on 
his march to Agincourt " he burnt villages, taking great booties.'* 
(Hall, 63, 64 ; Hoi. iii. 75, 77 ; see too, Monst. ch. cxliii.) 



390 NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. xxxvi. 

Note XXXVI.— p. 120. 

As many as 14,000 are stated by some authorities to have 
been put to death (Juv. des Ursins, 312). This is probably an 
exaggeration ; but that they were very numerous is evident, if we 
have the least confidence in Henry's humanity, his only excuse 
being their formidable numbers. It is rather remarkable that 
Hardynge, who was present at the battle " with his maister," Sir 
R. Umfraville, represents the massacre as having taken place 
after the battle, and on a false alarm of a new enemy coming up, 
for which, he says, " thei slew all prisoners downright sauf 
Dukes and Erles in fell and cruel wise" (375). We know that a 
force of 6000 were on their march to join the Constable under 
the Duke of Brittany, and arrived the day after the battle. 
Another body of 600 appears to have come up the night of the 
battle. (Monstrelet, ch. cxlviii.) 

The following is the description of this frightful massacre 
given by Hall, 70 : — " When this dolorous decree and piteous 
proclamation was pronounced, pitie it was to see, and lothesome 
it was to behold, how some Frenchmen were sodenly stricked 
with daggers ; some were brained with poll axes, some were 
slaine with malles, others had theyre throtes cut, and some their 
belles paunched ; soe that in effecte, havynge respect to the 
great numbere, few prisoners or none were saved." Another writer 
(Good. 88) thus describes the effect of the stakes in the battle 
itself: — " It was a dredful spectacle to see the number of men 
and horses thus gored, some struck through their bodies, some 
hanging by an arm or a thigh and groaning in torture, unable 
either to help themselves or their companions. The clattering 
of the armour of so many men tumbling in heaps, the glancing 
which so many thousand arrows made in falling on steel helmets, 
breastplates, or grieves, the cries of wounded and groans of 
dying men, made a hideous noise, equal to the horrors of the 
sight." 

The Rel. de St. Denys makes the French numbers at Agin- 
court four times those of the English (lib. xxxvi. cap. 8). He 



xxxvii. NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 391 

also affirms that there was before the battle an offer by the 
English to pay all the damage done in their invasion, as well as 
to restore all the places they had taken, provided they were 
allowed freely to return to England. He is far from being 
partial to the French. He charges their cowardice as the cause 
of their losses — describing the general contempt into which their 
chivalry had fallen : — " Milicia Gallicana cunctis alienigenis facta 
est in derisum et sibilum, et versa est in eorum cantilena tota 
die." (ch. 6.) The folly of the French in attacking at Agin- 
court, and not following "sound and discreet counsel," is the 
subject of ch. 9 — " in aggressu. praecipiti et confuso, ac igno- 
miniosa fuga." He states the killing of the prisoners as having 
been ordered by Henry in consequence of a mistake that some 
thirty gendarmes who were flying, were about to renew the 
attack (ch. 8). According to him the King and the nobles pur- 
chased from the soldiers, artisans, and common people the prison- 
ers they had made, for the purpose of gaining by their ransom 
(ch. 10). 



Note XXXVII.— p. 121. 

J. le Maingre, Marechal de Boucicault, who was second in 
command at Agincourt, was a distinguished person in that age, 
as appears from the history of him, by a contemporary unknown, 
which Theod. Godefroy published in 1620, entitled "Le Livre 
des Faicts du bon Messire Jean le Maingre, dit Bougicaut, 
Mareschal de France." It only comes down to 1408. He died 
a prisoner in England in 1421. He had served in Hungary 
against the Turks ; then in Guyenne ; afterwards under the 
Emperor of Constantinople against the Turks ; and he was then 
chosen Governor of Genoa when under the French. 



392 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xxxvm. 



Note XXXVIII.~p. 124. 

In the French king's library there is a MS. containing the 
proceedings in a suit of Gaucourt against Destoutville. Gaucourt 
had been taken prisoner at Harfleur, and was retained in order to 
obtain ransom from him, the ordinary course of proceeding in 
those predatory wars, " Many of us," he says, " being pri- 
soners, Henry allowed us to remain at large on promise of 
joining him at Calais at Martinmas. Afterwards I came from 
thence to England, and endeavoured to obtain my release, and 
return to France. I was suffered to go on account of my 
illness." Henry complained of having lost several of his jewels 
at Agincourt, and promised to release all the prisoners if Gau- 
court could find the jewels. The crown of England was among 
them, and the cross, with a piece of the true cross, and the 
Chancery seal. He says he made sure of recovering all the 
property, though its being dispersed in different hands made it 
difficult. He returned after making search, and told Henry 
that he doubted not ultimately succeeding. He offered to bring 
them all over, with two casks of Beaune wine (Burgundy), 
together with 120 to 140 English prisoners, if Henry would 
release him as he had promised. But the King proved too crafty 
for him. " Come to London," said he, " and I will consider 
your release.' 7 Gaucourt consulted his friends, and all thought 
that his only chance was bringing over the jewels and prisoners 
at once. He accordingly bought clothing for the prisoners at 
his own cost, hired a ship, and conveyed all — jewels, prisoners, 
and wine ; and all were landed safe at the Tower. After this 
Henry never would once see him, nor give him a farthing of 
money. He afterwards found that Henry had ransomed the 
prisoners at prices fixed by himself. Gaucourt's claim against 
Destoutville is for his moiety of 14,000 crowns, which the 
English king's conduct had cost him, and for which loss he 
contended Destoutville was answerable with him. 



xxxix. NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 393 



Note XXXIX.— p. 130. 

The exaggerations of some, as T. Walsingham, in describing 
the expedition from Harfleur. and of most writers, but not T. 
Walsingham, in their accounts of the sea fight, expose and con- 
tradict themselves. Thus T. Walsingham, p. 441, says there 
were 15,000 French and only 1500 English in the Harfleur 
battle, and he describes the attack as begun by Armagnac, 
while all others state the plundering expedition of Exeter 
as giving rise to the engagement. He very slightly mentions 
the sea fight, and only says that the French vessels having 
molested our coasts for some time, it became necessary to 
oppose them by the king's brother, who took eight, of which the 
three largest escaped. Hardy nge, c. 216, gives 20,000 as the 
number of French killed or taken prisoners — it is hard to say 
which, for he uses both expressions within seven lines, if indeed 
"taken" be not an error for "slain." But after their utter 
destruction he makes the French avail themselves of a calm to 
attack the English fleet night and day with " wilde fyre." Ho- 
linshed (iii. 85) describes the whole French navy as either sunk or 
captured in the engagement, but he also mentions the resistance 
made next day by "certain French gallies" to the English 
entering and victualling the town. T. Liv. (p. 26) only relates 
the victory as having put the enemy's ships to flight, and not as 
having taken or sunk above three or four. T. Elm. (p. 82) does 
not widely differ from this account. Stow (iii. 52) gives no 
account of Bedford's expedition at all ; but in relating Hunting- 
ton's the year after, he confounds it with Bedford's so far as to 
make its object the relief of Harfleur, and to represent Henry as 
at one time intending to command it. Monst. (c. clxv.) says 
that 800 English were slain in Exeter's (Dorset's) predatory 
inroad. The Polychron. (cccxxx.) only states the number of the 
French fleet at 57, and that three were taken, one destroyed, and 
the rest fled. Mr. Hume has neither mentioned Exeter's expe- 
dition nor his repulse and subsequent success, nor the siege of 



394 NOTES AND ILLUSTBATIONS. xl. 

Harfleur and its relief by Bedford's naval victory. He is, how- 
ever, quite correct in his remarks on Henry's invasion, and in 
his comparison of the three victories, Crecy, Poictiers, and Agin- 
court ; all these inroads he truly describes as mere predatory 
incursions, and the victories to which the English owed their 
escape from apparently inevitable destruction as only occasioned 
by the gross errors of the French captains. In fact, Henry's 
success two years after was owing not to his first invasion, but 
to the accidents which had arisen to increase the distractions of 
the French court. 



Note XL.— p. 133. 

There were, of course, many loans contracted by former kings ; 
but these were chiefly on their own personal security, or by 
pledges of their property or the property of the crown, as we 
have seen that Henry pawned the crown jewels and even the 
crown itself. The necessities of war had also put the Parlia- 
ment, as well as the King, upon many shifts. Thus in 14 Ed. III. 
money was borrowed by the King upon the 20,000 bags of wool 
granted to him by Parliament (Rot. Par. ii. 119-121). In the 
20 Ed. III. a subsidy was granted, the merchants having ad- 
vanced money upon it ; the entry is made on the roll that the 
grant could not be repealed without the consent of Parliament, 
meaning that the merchants could not be deprived of their secu- 
rity by the Crown giving up the subsidy (Rot. Par. ii. 161). 
But this does not amount to a parliamentary pledging or mort- 
gaging of the revenue granted. In 50 Ed. III. Latymer was 
impeached for borrowing 20,000 marks for the King and binding 
him to repay 30,000, and also for having shared in the enormous 
profit (ib. 325). Merchants were in the same reign allowed to 
export the wool duty free, until thus repaid the money lent by 
them (ib. 444). In 5 Rich. II. one of the causes assigned in 
the speech for assembling the Parliament is, that the merchants 
being applied to for a loan, refused to advance their money 



xl. NOTES AND ILLTJSTBATIONS. 395 

without parliamentary security (Rot. Par. iii. 121). But the 
first regular mortgaging of a subsidy which I can find is that 
referred to in the text, 4 Henry V. The entry on the roll 
(Rot. Par. iv. 95, 96) purports to bind the King, and his three 
brothers in case of his decease, in the presence of the prelates, 
peers, and commoners whose names are underwritten for more 
solemnity. The security of the lenders was to be by writs under 
the Great Seal made for the several sums advanced, whether by 
abbeys, princes, bishops, towns, or individuals. 

There is considerable obscurity and some uncertainty respecting 
the nature of tenths and fifteenths. The other fractions, as nones 
or 9ths, sometimes 20ths, sometimes 8ths, and once 14ths, soon 
sunk in the regular lOths and 15ths. It seems to be thought by 
some that lOths were of landed rents and profits, 15ths of personal 
property ; but for this supposition there is not any foundation. In 
fact, R. Hoveden (vi. 42), when relating the first assessment of 
the kind in Henry II. 's time, expressly states it to be " de 
mobilibus." Then, if both lOths and 15ths are assessments on 
moveables, why should they be granted together? It is possible 
that they were originally granted on different kinds of property, 
and afterwards continued in conjunction when granted on the 
same kinds of property, instead of one grant of l-6th ; but this 
is not very likely. I take the fact to be this : — We find that 
they were given originally, the one on country owners or inha- 
bitants, the other on city or borough inhabitants. The former 
were rated at l-15th of their personal property, the latter at 
l-10th, perhaps because of the feudal services of the country 
folk, afterwards commuted for scutage. Of these there were 
exempted all whose personal property was under 10s., of the 
town folk all whose property was under 6s. For many years 
the terms of the grant kept up the distinction : thus in 8 Ed. III., 
l-10th is expressly granted on persons within cities and boroughs, 
and 1-1 5th on those in the country (Rot. Par. ii. 447). So 
2-10ths and 2-15ths were granted in the same way in 1 Rich. II. 
(Rot. Par. iii. 7). But afterwards the Rolls of Parliament only 
mention lOths and 15ths indiscriminately, and the first instance 



396 NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. xli. 

which we find of this is in 7 Rich. II. (Rot. Par. iii. 167). In 
6 Ed. III. we find 1-I4th de mobilibus and l-9th de redditibus 
granted (Rot. Par. ii. 446) ; but next year, 7 Ed. III., it is 
1-1 Oth on cities and 1-1 5th on counties, and in both it is on the 
"biens" (Rot. Par. ii. 447). 

The assessment made, 8 Ed. III. 1334, was afterwards the 
rule for these levies, a general survey having been made, and the 
whole put into a more regular form ; so that when afterwards a 
10th or a 15th was granted by the Parliament, each town was 
to pay the sum paid in 8 Ed. III., and collect that sum among 
its inhabitants by apportioning it. 

The clergy appear to have given l-10th with very few ex- 
ceptions, of which Rot. Par. iii. 176 would seem to furnish one 
in Rich. II. 's time, as it looks like the grant of 1-I5th. In 
11 Hen, IV. the city of Oxford complained that the religious 
persons there had purchased since 20 Ed. I. lands and tenements, 
and refused to pay any of the late or future levies granted to 
the revenue of the city ; but they are ordered to pay their 15th 
on all such purchases (Rot. Par. iii. 645). 



Note XLI.— p. 135. 

There has been considerable inaccuracy in the writers who 
have made mention of Provisors and Pro\ isions, an important head 
of our old ecclesiastical and constitutional law. All of them, so 
far as I know, have represented the claims of the Roman See to 
presentation as general. Even Blackstone (4 Com. 107) only 
restricts it apparently to the case of incumbents or patrons dying 
on their way to Rome or during their residence there. So Hume 
(ch. xvi.). Dr. Lingard, who might be supposed better informed 
than others on such a subject, gives no distinct account of it (iii. 
151). It might from these authorities be inferred that the Papal 
claim extended to all benefices; though Dr. Lingard (ii. 310, 
and also iii. 387) seems to have had some suspicion that this 



xlii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 397 

generality did not belong to it. The truth is, that Provisions 
were confined exclusively to those dignities and benefices the con- 
ferring of which was in the hands of spiritual patrons, as prelates, 
abbots, chapters. Hence it included bishoprics and other 
ecclesiastical dignities ; but it had no relation to lay patronage, 
although the vague language in some parts of the Statute of 
Carlisle (35 Ed. I.) and of the Statute of Provisors (25 Ed. III. 
St. 4) might seem to countenance such an error. It is possible 
that the encroaching spirit of Rome might have secretly favoured 
a design of its legates to extend the claim ; but when complaints 
of the abuse of the right were urged in the reign of Henry III., 
the Pope (Innocent IY.) explicitly disclaimed all but the 
restricted claim now stated. Rym. i. 426, 495. See too the 
preamble to the statutes 35 Ed. IY. and 25 Ed. III. St. 4. The 
statute of Henry IY. extends the former acts to all Provisions 
which give dispensations, as well as to interference with 
advowsons. 



Note XLII.— p. 143. 

It is remarkable that whi^e Hoi. (iii. 89), and after liim Stow 
(353), to say nothing of Goodwyn and Hume, have given the 
whole force as above 25,000, and Juv. des L T rs. (337) at 50,000 
" combattans," T. Liv. 32, and T. Elm. 92, both state it at 
16,400, and the former gives the number brought by each 
baron, amounting to 2361 horsemen and 6862 archers, adding 
that the residue, 7177, to make up 16,400, were the King's own 
retainers and the men he had hired. It is to be noted, however, 
that this author (T. Liv. 33) expressly says he omits to mention 
how many attendants came with each of the barons and knights, 
so that the irregular forces may have been considerable. The 
whole army was by much the greatest that had ever been sent 
out of England. At Crecy Edward III. had only 2300 horse- 
men, 5200 archers, and 1000 Welsh infantry with him; at 
Poictiers the Black Prince had not above 8000 men, of 



398 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xliii. 

whom 2000 were Gascons ; and John of Gaunt's army, which 
went across France, from Calais 1o Bordeaux, in 1373, was 
composed of 3000 horse and 10,000 archers. See Note LI., 
infra. 



Note XLIIL— p. 149. 

Dr. Lingard (iii. 362) falls into a great error respecting this 
negotiation, concerning which we have but little information. 
He says that Henry demanded the crown in reversion, and the 
Regency during Charles's life, with the hand of Catherine. He 
is misled by a protocol of 1419 being misplaced in Rymer ix. 
521. The date and the place, Mantes, should have kept him 
right. Henry never reached Mantes till after the fall of Rouen, 
July 1419. The demand in that protocol was never made till 
the negotiation with Duke Philip after Jean-sans-Peur's death. 
It is equally clear, from the whole state of the facts, that Henry 
never could have brought forward such a demand at that time, 
before he had made any considerable progress in the country. 
Another proof of this being a mistake is derived from the names 
of the envoys mentioned in the proposition of the 24th of October, 
really 1419, but supposed by Lingard to be 1417, and erro- 
neously classed by Rymer under the protocols of that year. It 
mentions the names only of Gilbert Umfraville and John Boteler, 
and neither of these persons is among the number of those set 
forth as the envoys in the introductory part stating the powers ; 
but Gilbert Umfraville and a Boteler (James, not John) are 
employed in the negotiation connected with the Treaty of Arras, 
1419 (Rym. ix. 517). Lastly, though it is certain that Henry 
could not be at Mantes on the 24th of October, 1417, it is equally 
clear that he was there on the 17th and 27th of October, 1419, 
for we have two instruments of these dates at Mantes (Rym. 
ix. 806, 808). 



xliv. NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 399 



Note XLIV.— p. 150. 

Dr. Lingard (iii. 362) states as an undoubted fact that the 
expedition was undertaken in consequence of an understanding 
between the Scotch Cabinet and the Lollards, and he cites as 
his authority T. Wals., Fordun, and T. Elm. The two latter 
are wholly silent on the subject of any such understanding. T. 
"Wals. (446) alone asserts that Cobham addressed the Scots with 
promises of large sums of money, and that he met Douglas at 
Pontefract. We have already shown the absurdity of this story. 
T. Liv. is wholly silent on any such charge against the Lollards, 
much as he hated what he terms their "nefarious superstition" 
(7). It must be observed, too, that Henry himself had some 
time before received intimation of an attempt from Scotland, 
against which he warned those whom he left in charge before he 
sailed in August 1417. He expressly states that this attempt 
had been set on foot by the Duke of Orleans, who was then a 
prisoner of war, and whom he therefore desires to be kept in 
close custody at Pontefract (Let. of Henry V. apud T. Liv., ed. 
Hearne, p. 99). It is indeed by no means certain that the 
Scotch expedition took place before Cobham 's death. Fordun's 
inaccuracy, as well as his contempt of dates, is proverbial. He 
confounds together the campaigns of 1415 and 1417 (ii. 448). 
T. Liv. (56) mentions Exeter's return so as to make the Scotch 
inroad appear later. Lingard (iii. 362), from being unac- 
quainted with Scotch antiquities, says of the inroad, " It proved 
a foul raid," which tells nothing. The fact is, it was called ever 
after " the foul raid," meaning, the disgraceful incursion. In 
Hearne's edition of the ' Scotichronicon,' it is in a note called 
"folle raid," and Harl. MS. (iv. 1186) is cited. 



400 NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. xlv. 



Note XLV.— p. 153. 

The Statute Roll is certainly the highest evidence of a statute, 
except where the actual statute remains in the repositories of 
Parliament, in which case any question arising on the accuracy 
of the enrolment must be settled by appeal to the original. 
Now the Statute Roll exists from 1278 (1 Ed. I.) to 1468 
(8 Ed. IV.), with the exception of the statutes from 9 to 24 
Henry VI., both inclusive ; and it contains the statutes made 
during those two centuries. The Statute Roll from 8 Ed. IV. 
to 4 Henry VII. was made up, but it is not extant. After 
4 Henry VII. it ceased, and from that time the enrolment in 
Chancery supplies its place — this enrolment having been begun 
1 Ric. III. and continued to the present time. 

But that statutes were made in early times which do not appear 
on the Statute Roll seems undeniable, although it is admitted that 
the Royal assent given to a petition does not certainly show a sta- 
tute to have been made. The learned Introduction to the Statutes 
printed by the Record Commissioners 1810-11 lays this down, 
and perhaps not too broadly (p. xxxvii.). Nevertheless the Com- 
missioners apply to the Rolls of Parliament as one source from 
which to find statutes not entered on the Statute Roll (p. xxxix.). 
It would in any case be a strong thing to reject as a statute a 
prayer of the Commons formally assented to by the King and 
the Lords, especially when it is admitted that there hangs great 
obscurity over the distinction between an Ordinance and a 
Statute. " Whatever has at any time been written on this sub- 
ject," say the Commissioners, "is contradictory and indistinct" 
(p. xxxii). 

The Rot. Par., extending from Ed. I. to Henry VII., 1278 to 
1503, were first printed by the House of Lords, 1767, in six 
folio vols., but without any index. A copious index, printed in 
1832, has now made more accessible that most important reposi- 
tory of our constitutional history, though neither the book nor 
the index are as correct as might be desired, and the book cer- 



xlvi. NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 401 

tainly does not contain all the Rolls extant. A remarkable 
instance of the omission of a statute clearly made in Parliament, 
but apparently to be found only in the Rot. Par., is given in a 
subsequent part of the text (p. 237). 



Note XLVI.— p. 165. 

Few things in Henry's history are more discreditable to him 
than the manner in which he conducted these negotiations. When 
the French offered a cession of districts of which he had just ob- 
tained possession by force, he always urged the objection that 
these he already held, and these he would keep. Surely it is no 
invention of modern times, that until the conquests obtained by 
the sword are ratified by treaty, the temporary possession during 
war does not permanently confer a rightful title, any more than 
it gives a permanent security. 

But his duplicity, in treating both with the Dauphin and the 
Burgundian, is worse. While he had any prospect of attaining 
his object, he never thought of picking holes in the title of either. 
It was only when his unreasonable demands were refused that he 
bethought him of that resource, and he did so with respect to 
both. At Alencon the conference had gone on for about a fort- 
night ; and the objection which, if it meant anything, went to 
deny the right of the Dauphin to treat at all, was never even 
alluded to till the day before the conference broke up, when the 
negotiation was at an end. 

There is some mystery in the part borne by two persons named 
Severac and Guitard at Alencon. They were none of the French 
envoys, yet they appear to have been in communication with 
them, though fully more in connection with the English embassy. 
It was they who told the English envoys that the Dauphin had 
secretly instructed his representatives to make the offer of Anjou, 
Touraine, Artois, and Flanders (Rym. ix. 640). Juv. des Urs. 
(366) manifestly parades his chief's patriotism by suppressing all 
mention of this instruction, and making the proposal come from 

2 D 



402 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xlvii. 

Henry ; and so far the protocol bears him out, that the Dauphin's 
envoys decline it when made. Possibly they set on these two 
individuals to beguile Henry into granting a truce, on which they 
seemed much bent, perhaps with a view to the siege of Rouen 
then going on. The English envoys affirm that they are aware 
of the Dauphin having given authority to insert a condition 
in the treaty binding him not to make peace with the Bur- 
gundian ; and they add that the Dauphin had entreated Henry to 
come under a like obligation (Rym. ix. 644). He did give in- 
structions to that effect, of which we have a copy in Rymer (646). 
They are dated the 14th November. Yet he had, as appears by 
the letter to him from the French King, written to that prince 
on the 26th October — that is, to the Burgundian himself — and 
had granted passports to his envoys 5th November {Id. 632). 
But it is a signal proof of the perfidy which marked this negotia- 
tion, that the general instructions to his envoys who were to treat 
with the Dauphin are dated the very same day (26th October) 
with his letter to the Burgundian ; and that in those instructions 
distinct reference is made to joining the Dauphin with his forces 
against the Burgundian, part of whose dominions Henry contem- 
plated obtaining (Rym. ix. 630). Juv. des Ursins' silence on 
the Burgundian's conduct in the negotiation proves that he 
thought it did him credit as a good Frenchman, and that he had 
refused dishonourable terms. His Armagnac prejudices appear 
to have so far biassed him to a suppression of the truth. 



Note XLVII.— p. 189. 

The account in the text follows that of Monstrelet rather than 
the statement of other writers. It is more circumstantial, and, 
except in one particular, seems quite consistent with probability. 
That particular is the representing so much urgency on the part of 
the Dauphin's adherents, and the reluctance of the Burgundian, 
after a considerable time, to go to Montereau, intimating a sus- 



xlvii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 403 

picion very natural to be entertained, and yet overcome without 
any very apparent reason, and to go almost unattended. The 
nature of Jean-sans-Peur was not very much that of a person who 
would have a struggle with himself, and, having entertained 
suspicions, would ever dismiss them from his mind. The fact, 
however, of his going, and with a small force in comparison of 
the Dauphin's, is admitted on all hands ; and this of itself makes 
the improbability greater. Indeed it is one of the grounds of the 
doubt : so that on any supposition it requires to be accounted for, 
and the difficulty, in some degree, is common to all the accounts, 
though perhaps greater in that which describes the reluctance and 
the pressure most strongly. Juv. des Ursins (369) states that the 
advisers of both parties cautioned them against going to the 
meeting, and he gives their reasons. He mentions the warning 
of the Jew, Mousque, to the Burgundian ; and he adds that the 
latter made a very noble reply, saying he would run all risks of 
his person for the great object of peace, and would avail himself 
of the Dauphin's able officers to fight the King of England 
withal ; and so, he adds, " Hennete of Flanders would fight Henry 
of Lancaster" (p. 433 infra). He describes the Dauphin as waiting 
from the 26th of August to the 10th of September for the Duke. 
He then distinctly states that each party placed his -guards at his 
own wicket, which is no doubt most likely ; and in that case, if 
the shutting immediately after the Burgundian entered was done 
by the keeper of his wicket, he must have been gained by the 
Dauphin's party, which is not very easy to understand, as the 
person posted by the Duke's men was likely to be one of them- 
selves, ordered at the moment and upon the spot. Juv. des 
Ursins gives both the Burgundian and Armagnac account. The 
former makes the Dauphin give the signal for attack, against all 
probability: the latter is extremely difficult to believe, for it 
makes the Dauphin begin by urging angry complaints of the 
Burgundian not having performed what he had undertaken 
against the English ; and adds that, in answer to the proposal that 
he should go before the King at Troyes, he said he should go 
how and when he chose himself, and not as the Duke chose. The 

2 d 2 



404 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xlvii. 

Armagnac account then states that Novailles, one of the Duke's 
ten followers, came up to him, and then the Duke became red, 
and said to the Dauphin, " Quelque voulez vous? — vous viendrez 
a present a votre pere ?" laying one hand on the Dauphin, and 
drawing his sword with the other. This seems quite impossible 
in the relative position of the parties. The account goes on to 
state that Tanneguy du Chastel immediately carried off the 
Dauphin, and had no hand in the murder which followed. Juv. 
des Ursins (373) adds that Batailles, Lore, and Narbonne con- 
fessed having attacked the Burgundian ; and that Batailles said 
to the Burgundian, " You cut. off the hand of my master, and I 
will cut off yours." He had been with Orleans at his assassina- 
tion. 

It is very probable that the conspiracy against the Bur- 
gundian originated with the followers of Orleans and Tanneguy 
du Chastel. The account in Monstrelet and in the text does not 
gainsay that supposition ; but it seems very difficult to acquit the 
Dauphin of all previous knowledge, and hardly possible that he 
should not have been drawn in to being a passive spectator, and 
even conniving at it. The Burgundian being induced to go first 
from Troyes, and then from Bray, where he had stopped for days, 
is probably explicable by supposing that Tanneguy du Chastel had 
made large professions of altered sentiments and of attachment to 
him, and also that the woman Giac had joined in deceiving 
and persuading him. She and her husband remained with the 
Dauphin ever after, which plainly shows that they had been 
gained over. The giving the castle, a place of strength, to the 
Duke, while the Dauphin only took up his quarters in the town, 
was probably one of the measures employed to allay his sus- 
picions. Juv. des Ursins, we must always bear in mind, was an 
avowed and a very warm adherent of the Armagnac faction. He 
and his family were great sufferers by the violence of the Bur- 
gundians, as he himself relates (340). He was made Archbishop 
of Rheims by Charles VII. (the Dauphin) ; and though he affects 
in one place to be a Burgundian, this is admitted to be a fraud, 
and it is not calculated to increase his credit. Monstrelet may have 



slviii. NOTES AND ILLUSTBATIONS.. 405 

had Burgundian leanings, but so far were these from being strong, 
that it was long a question whether he had any such partiality at 
all ; and the arguments against Legendre and others, aduuced to 
disprove it by M. Dacier (Mem. de 1'Acad. des Inscr. xliii. 535), 
appear very difficult to resist. He shows that Monstrelet is more 
severe against Jean-sans-Peur than Juv. des Ursins himself. 
Pierre de Fennin (473) confirms Monstrelet much more than he 
does Juv. des Ursins. He was at one time in Charles VI/s 
household, when that prince was under Burgundian influence, 
and so may be supposed to favour the party ; but this bias does 
not appear in his History. T. Elm. (235) and T. Liv. (78) 
content themselves with shortly stating that the Duke was per- 
fidiously slain by order of the Dauphin ; and T. Walsingham 
(449), following the same course, declares the assassination to 
have been done by the Dauphin and his accomplices. 



Note XLVIIL— p. 211. 

It is singular that Dr. Lingard (iii. 375) should represent this 
proceeding as only indirectly implicating the Dauphin. " The 
young prince," says he, " is indeed mentioned by the designation 
of 'Charles, styling himself Dauphin;' but not so much as a 
suspicion is hinted that he was either the author or an abettor of 
the crime." Charles is no doubt so named, but that is not all. 
The preamble of the decree distinctly sets forth that Charles and 
Duke John had, with their servants, sworn peace on the gospel 
and cross, and in the hands of the Legate ; that John had gone 
to Montereau, " at the request of the Armagnac," to keep the 
said peace ; and then it proceeds to state that he had been 
" meurtrez et tue au dit lieu de Montereau, mauvaisement, 
traitreusement, et dampnablement, non obstant les dites promesses 
et seremens ainsi feas et renouvelle au dit lieu de Montereau par 
iuy et ses complices " (Rym. x. 34). Now though the par luy 
may mean that the oaths had been renewed at Montereau, this is 
not quite certain, for there was never said to have been any oaths 



406 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xlviii. 

taken at Montereau on the last occasion. The swearing was at 
Melun in July, and at Paris. But suppose we so read it ; then 
it follows that the murder is laid as having been committed, not- 
withstanding the oaths taken by him and his accomplices — that 
is, by the Dauphin — for there is no other person mentioned to 
whom luy can apply. No doubt this being the charge, it is 
made against the whole, as it must have been ; but the words non 
obstante luy, and complices will bear no other meaning than 
direct charge against the Dauphin, as well as his servants, instead 
of " not so much as a suspicion being hinted against him." We 
are also to bear in mind that the requisition (requisitoire) or 
judicial demand of Philip's advocate, as given by Monstrelet, 
and which was the foundation of the whole proceeding, directly 
charges the murder on Charles by name, and adds the names of 
seven others — Louvet, Boutillier, De Loire, Layet, Tanneguy, 
Barbasan, and Narbonne (chap, ccxxxii.). The sentence is given, 
but in general terms, in chap, ccxxxix. 

P. Griffet, the learned and diligent editor of P. Daniel, edition 
1755, has a note upon the citation of the Dauphin before the 
Chambre de Marbre, and his condemnation by default to lose the 
succession to the crown, which P. Daniel, following Monstrelet 
and Juv. des Urs., had given as certain (vi. 554). President 
Henault had denied this proceeding altogether, and regarded it 
as the same with the proceeding before the two Kings and part 
of the States at the instance of Philip, in which no forfeiture of 
the crown is denounced. P. Griffet says that the decree on th 
latter occasion does not pronounce against the Dauphin by name 
(nommement), which is true, but only under certain qualifica- 
tions, as we have seen — for luy applies to him, and therefore he 
may be said to be named by reference. P. Griffet seems to 
think there may have been another proceeding, and that the de- 
cree is lost. His reason for so supposing is because of no for- 
feiture of the crown being decreed in the proceeding of which 
we have the particulars. But it is possible that Monstrelet and 
Juv. des Urs. may have regarded the general forfeiture as com- 
prehending that of the Crown also ; and certainly the words 



xlix. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 407 

appear to have been employed for the purpose of including the 
Dauphin's succession, some of them being peculiarly applicable 
to his case, as releasing all " people, vassals, subjects, and sup- 
porters from all oaths of fealty, promises and obligations of 
service," and declaring the forfeiture of all "future succession, 
direct and collateral, all dignities, honours, and prerogatives 
whatsoever " (Rym. x. 35). 



Note XLIX.— p. 217. 

The distance at which this battle was fought from Rouen, an 
our having no account of what brought the English army to 
Beauge, are circumstances that tend to perplex the historical 
inquirer. Nor is it easy to explain them by supposing a great 
reluctance to dwell upon the subject on the part of the English, 
to whom the particulars must have been known. It certainly 
appears that Clarence had before the battle pillaged Vendome 
and Maine, and had encamped before Angers, when he heard of 
the Dauphin being between him and Beauge. T. Walsingham 
(454) says that Clarence on finding or supposing the enemy un- 
prepared to meet him was overjoyed, " secus quam tan turn prin- 
cipem decuit." He says nothing of the Scots contributing to 
the defeat. T. Elm. (303) gives the most absurd and incredible 
account of the battle : first, he speaks of only a few of the prin- 
cipal English officers being engaged — " paucissimum " and 
" manipulum ;" and yet he describes the defeat as a great dis- 
aster, and with his wonted most execrable taste he puts a dia- 
logue into the mouths of Moral Courage and Compassion as both 
in Henry's bosom and addressing him. T. Liv. is wholly silent 
on the subject, and does not even mention Clarence's death. 
His work was addressed to Henry VI., to whom he frequently 
speaks personally, calling Catherine " tua mater," and his birth 
" tua nativitas" (93). Indeed he also mentions, though this not 
in the second person, his having been begotten during his 
father's journey to England (91). P. de Fennin's account (485) 
has nothing remarkable, except that he admits the French to 



408 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xlix. 

have greatly outnumbered the English. Juv. des Urs. (389) 
makes the battle take place after a formal defiance and agree- 
ment to meet and fight on a given day and spot ; but he says the 
English were craftily contriving to fight before the time, and 
failing to surprise their adversaries, were defeated. He absurdly 
gives the French loss at 25 or 30 men. The strange inaccuracy 
of this writer as to dates is exemplified in making the siege of 
Meaux take place before Henry went over the last time to Eng- 
land. Hall (107) ascribes the defeat to the treachery of a Lom- 
bard who deceived Clarence. Hardynge (384) reduces the dis- 
aster to nothing, and describes Umfraville as having had sharp 
words with Clarence, whom he counselled not to fight on Easter 
Eve, but was answered that if he did not like fighting, he might 
go and keep the churchyard. 

That the defeat at Beauge was of the greatest moment appears 
plainly from the manner of treating it when the Parliament met 
in May (1421). The Bishop's (Chancellor's) sermon was of a 
melancholy cast : he quoted the book of Job, " the Lord giveth, 
and the Lord taketh away," &c, and made no allusion to 
supplies {Rot. Par., iv. 129). P. Daniel (vi. 558), from an 
ancient document preserved in the Chamber of Accounts, gives 
3000 as the number of English slain. A frequent error, as in 
Stow (381), is to confound the little river Le Loir with the 
great river La Loire, and so to conclude that Clarence had 
passed the latter. 

One of the most gross mistakes committed by writers on this 
passage of history relates to James's liberation. Monstrelet 
(ccxxxv.) states that Henry liberated him before he returned to 
France in June, 1421. Goodwin (306) follows this account, 
and commits the further error of saying that James had been 
ten years a captive, whereas he had been nearly seventeen. In 
fact he was taken in 1405, and not liberated till spring 1424, 
above a year and a half after Henry's death, the treaty being 
made 4th of December, 1423, and the safe-conduct granted 28th 
of March, 1424 (Rym. x. 305. 332; Ford., Scot. Chr. ii. 474). 
Goodwin actually describes him as returning to Scotland in 



s 



l. NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 409 

1421, and holding a Parliament, obtaining supplies, and pro- 
mising to improve his country. He makes him marry Anne, 
daughter of Clarence, whereas he married Joan Beaufort, Dorset's 
daughter. Holinshed (111) and Hall (119) give the facts cor- 
rectly. Mezeray (i. 1028) represents James as having been de- 
livered, and having returned to Scotland, all before the expe- 
dition. P. Daniel (vi. 556) states that the English and Scotch 
historians give different accounts of James's liberation, but that 
the treaties made by the court of France with Scotland, preserved 
in the archives, leave no doubt on the subject (see Note XXV. 
sup.). 



Note L— p. 219. 

There is an unaccountable statement of the Chroniclers, as 
Hall, Holinshed, T. Walsingham, adopted by Goodwin in his 
History (302), that a fifteenth was granted by the Parliament of 
May. He states that the King represented to them what con- 
quests he had made, and what supplies were wanted. Whitelocke 
(Mem. 130) falls into the same error. Monstrelet (chap, 
ccxxxv.) speaks of the " countless sums " which he raised by 
setting forth, wherever he went in his progress, the extent of his 
conquests and the necessity of supplies. But the Parliament 
Poll is decisive, and gives the fact as it is stated in the text. 
The confounding of the Parliament in May with that which met 
in December cannot account for this error ; for no such speech 
was made to the latter, as is described by those who have so mis- 
stated the fact ; and the vote was not, as stated, of a fifteenth 
only, but of a tenth and a fifteenth together. 

The force collected by Henry, and which he carried over 
the 1st of June, 1421, is variously stated, but generally as 
24,000 archers and 4000 men-at-arms. If the proportion of 
attendants was the same as in his last expedition, his army must 
have amounted, not to 30,000, the largest number assigned by 
any writer (Monst. chap, ccxxxv.), but nearer 50,000. This 
force, and the addition he made to it in Normandy, must have 



410 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. li. 

been exceedingly reduced in a few months by the military opera- 
tions, the disease on his march from Berri, and the demands of 
the garrisons, if it be true, as T. Elm. represents, that he had 
but a handful of men left at the siege of Meaux. 



Note LI.— p. 235. 

Mr. Hume suppresses all mention of Limoges, and pronounces 
the Black Prince a perfect character — one, he says, " to the hour 
of his death, unstained by any blaraeable action," ascribing to him 
particularly both " generosity " and " humanity " as his distin- 
guishing qualities (Hist. ch. xvi.). But the massacre of Limoges 
is attested in detail by Froissart ; in general terms by T. Wals- 
ingham ; and Hume cites both writers in the page in which this 
extraordinary suppression is committed. Froissart's account of 
it is truly lamentable. " You would have seen pillagers active 
to do mischief, running through the town, slaying men, women, 
and children, according to their orders." [He had named the 
Black Prince, John of Gaunt, and others.] " It was a most 
melancholy business ; for all ranks, ages, and sexes cast them- 
selves on their knees before the Prince begging for mercy, but he 
was so influenced with passion and revenge, that he listened 
to none." (Frois., torn. i. fol. ccxxxv.) Yet five or six weeks 
had elapsed since the treachery of the town gave him offence. 
The poor, Froissart adds, were not spared, who could have 
had no hand in the transaction, though those were spared who 
had actually given up the place to the French. Indeed the 
Prince was so much delighted by a combat of some knights 
with his own officers, that "his heart was softened towards 
them." However, the place was " pillaged, burnt, and totally 
destroyed." {Frois.) T. Walsingham, though more general in 
his account, says (180), " Captam (urbem) solo tenus fere de- 
struxit, inventosque in ea, peremit, paucis captis et reservatis ad 
vitam." Though he extols the Prince's " clemency," and, like 
Hume, asserts that " no one could say anything against him," 



lii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 411 

yet he honestly gives the Limoges massacre with fulness, and 
strongly reprobates it. 

We cannot easily avoid noting, though assuredly no proof 
was required of it, Mr. Hume's carelessness in giving facts and 
referring to authorities which often do not bear him out. One 
instance occurs in the portion of his History to which we have 
been adverting. He places the march of Lancaster through 
France too early. He says it was " some time after Knollys's 
expedition." It was three years after ; Knollys's being in 1370, 
Lancaster's in 1373. He says the Duke had 25,000 men with 
him, and he cites Froissart, who says 3000 horse and 10,000 
archers (torn. i. fol. ccliv.). He also cites Walsingham, who says 
30,000 horse (283), which is manifestly impossible ; if he were 
right, there must have been many more than 30,000 men, which 
number Barnes (857) appears to have taken from T. Walsingham, 
though he only refers to Froissart, who gives 13,000. Barnes 
confounds Lancaster's expedition with Knollys's in p. 800 ; for 
he says Knollys had 30,000 according to Mezeray, and only 
12.000 according to Holinshed, and that he prefers the former 
authority. But Mezeray gives no number as to Knollys (i. 882), 
and as to Lancaster he gives not 30,000 but 40,000 (ib. 888). 
Hume gives Knollys 30,000, and refers to Walsingham and 
Froissart, neither of whom gives that amount. T. Walsingham 
(179) gives no number, and Froissart (i. fol. ccxxxi) gives only 
5500 and 4000 Welsh. The Troubadour Chronicler of Bernard 
du Guesclin says 20,000 (ii. 131, ed. 1839). Dr. Lingard gives 
no particulars of either of these remarkable expeditions, de- 
spatching each in a single sentence (iii. 103-4) ; but nothing 
can be more praiseworthy than the honest indignation which he 
expresses at the conduct of the Black Prince on the sacking of 
Limoges. 



Note LIL— p. 238. 

The privilege of Parliament is sometimes said to have been 
extended by Henry VI. after Henry V. had resisted the claims 



412 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lii. 

and refused the prayer of the Gomiiions. But this is not cor- 
rect, both because Henry VI. can hardly be said to have ex- 
tended the privilege, and because it was in 5 Henry IV. that 
the prayer referred to was refused. R. Chedder, Esquire, a 
servant (magneal) of T. Broke, Knight of the shire for Somer- 
set, had been grievously assaulted and maimed, having come 
with him to Parliament ; and the Commons prayed that it might 
be declared treason to slay a knight so come to Parliament, and 
mayhem with loss of the hand to wound him, and fine and 
ransom to assault him ; and that the King would not pardon any 
such offender unless he made accord with the party aggrieved. 
The King refused this prayer ; but as to the case of Chedder and 
Broke, and as to all future cases of the same kind, ordered that 
proclamation should be made in the town where the offence was 
committed (that is evidently in the town where the Parliament 
was sitting), and if the party charged did not appear within a 
quarter of a year before the Justice to take his trial, then he should 
be held attainted of the offence, pay double damages to the party 
aggrieved, and make fine and ransom to the King ; and if he 
did appear, he should take his trial, and on conviction suffer the 
same punishment (Rot. Par. iii. 542 ; Stat. 5 Henry IV. c. 6). 
In 11 Henry VI. an assault and affray having been committed, but 
against a knight of the shire, and the Commons referring to the 
former statute, desired to have it re-enacted and applied to 
knights, citizens, and burgesses. The Act made on this ex- 
tended also to Lords Spiritual and Temporal come to attend 
Parliament, and to Councillors come to attend the King's Council 
by his summons (Rot. Par. iv. 562 ; Stat. 11 Henry VI. c. 11). 
It is hard to see what better protection this act gave than the 
common law afforded, though it enables them to profit by the 
injury sustained ; for it merely re-enacts the Stat. 5 Henry IV. 
c. 6 as to all members of both Houses attending Parliament, and 
Privy Councillors. It certainly does not come within the de- 
scription given of it by Dr. Lingard (iii. 498) of "a law for the 
personal security of all members of Parliament while attend- 
ing their duty," the granting of which he says " former 



liii. NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 413 

sovereigns had refused or eluded." Indeed the Stat, of Henry 
IV. protected the servants of members at least from mayhem, 
and it is not easy to see how the members should, during the 
interval between the 5 Henry IV. and 11 Henry VI., have been 
without that protection at common law which their servants had 
by statute ; though certainly the member has the protection, 
such as it is, from assault, when the servant only has it from 
mayhem. In 5 Henry IV. (Rot. Par. iii. 541) the Commons 
complained of their servants being arrested for debt, and required 
protection against this proceeding by treble damages being given. 
The King answered that they had their remedy by law, which 
seems more than doubtful (Rot. Par. iii. 541). 

Nothing can more clearly show the tendency of all usages, 
and of the people's habits in those times to consider everything 
with a view to pecuniary gain, than these proceedings. The 
law severely punished the oifence of maiming (mayhem) whether 
committed against a member of Parliament or any other person. 
But much benefit was thought to be acquired by members when 
they were enabled to recover double or treble damages for 
having been wounded. So when the Commons ask to have 
punishment inflicted on persons guilty of slaying or of maiming 
members, they desire, further, that no pardon be granted unless 
accord be made, that is compensation given to the party ag- 
grieved. The whole of the barbarous warfare carried on in that 
age was tainted with the same sordid feeling: prisoners were 
only made to be ransomed ; those who could not pay were put to 
death ; those who could were detained without exchange, and 
probably after war had ceased. The pecuniary commutation of 
all punishments at a somewhat earlier period proceeded on the 
same principle. 



Note LIII.— p. 238. 

The Parliament of Leicester met 30th April, 1414, little more 
than a year after Henry's accession. The Petition of the Com- 
mons (Rot. Par. iv. 22) is very remarkable. It sets forth their 



414 NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. liii. 

ight as having ever been a branch of the Parliament, and that 
no law could ever be made without their assent, and beseeches 
that henceforth whether they should make any complaint or ask 
any remedy by mouth of their speaker, or by petition in writing, 
no law be made thereafter changing the meaning and purport 
of what is asked by addition, diminution, or otherwise, without 
their consent, adding, however, that they do not mean, if they 
should ask several things, that the King may not grant some 
and refuse others. The answer is that " of his especial grace the 
King grants that from henceforth nothing be enacted to be pe- 
titions of his Commons that be contrary to their asking whereby 
they should be bound without their assent, saving his royal pre- 
rogative to grant and deny what him list of their petitions and 
askings." 

Upon this arises first, the observation that -the Lords are not 
named, nor, indeed, was any Statute made. Next, that the grant 
only is of security against altering any Bill sent up by the 
Commons without their assent to the change, so that there 
would be no infringement of the right thus bestowed, or recog- 
nized, if a Statute were made by the King and Lords alone. 
The Commons, it is true, get all they ask in their petition ; but 
the claim in the preamble goes further, and asserts the general 
right, and of this claim no notice is taken in the answer. 

Henry IV.'s first Parliament met at Westminster 6th Oc- 
tober, 1399; and on the 27th, the interval having been occu- 
pied by the resignation and deposition of Richard, an act (or 
rather a judgment) was passed condemning him to perpetual 
imprisonment, but the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Tem- 
poral alone is stated (Rot. Par. iii. 426). On the 3rd of No- 
vember, only two private Bills having passed in the mean time, 
the Commons state that they are no parties to any judgments in 
Parliament, these belonging to the King and the Lords only, 
unless so far as such judgments may from grace and favour be 
communicated to them, and, therefore, they claim not to be 
bound by any judgments given or to be given. Such at least 
seems to be the meaning of the claim " that no record be made 



liv. NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 415 

in Parliament against ' les dite communes qu'ils sont ou seront 
parties ad ascunes juggements donnez ou a donner en apres en 
Parlement.' " 

The King's answer by the Archbishop of Canterbury is that 
their prayer be granted, and that the King and the Lords ever had 
and will have the right of giving judgments in Parliament as the 
Commons had set forth ; but that in Statutes to be made, or any 
grants and subsidies, or in such things as are made for the com- 
mon profit of the realm, the King desires to have specially their 
advice and consent (Rot. Par. iii. 427, art. 79). 

In Henry IV.'s second Parliament, holden 20th January, 1401, 
he was far less courteous to the Commons, his authority being 
now established. They asked that his answers to their petitions 
should henceforth be given before they had made their grants ; 
but he answered that he should consult the Lords and be guided 
by their advice, which having done he said he saw no reason 
to change the established usage of the grants preceding the an- 
swers (Rot. Par. iii. 458). 



Note LIV.— p. 243. 

The dates of the conges d'elire show that the Pope's nomina- 
tion was required. Thus, that for Winchester is dated 25th 
March, 1419 ; but the restitution of the temporalities to the 
former bishop bears date 18th October, 1419, and to the latter 
17th March, 1420 — a delay in the one case of five, and in the 
other of seven months. 

Some of the circulars to the bishops and chapters in Normandy 
require that all persons having benefices shall reside, without the 
reference which other circulars make to the absentees not having 
taken the oaths. Indeed, some of them are before the Treaty of 
Troyes, as one 24th April, 1419, from the exigency of which 
an excuse is afterwards granted to students at Paris University, 
holding Norman livings (Rym. ix. 739, 808). To the Chapter 
of Evreux (13th January, 1419) he severely forbids the " quam 
plurima intolerabilia," which he hears they intend to commit 



416 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. liv. 

against his prerogative — among others, that of allowing persons 
to hold prebends and benefices in their Cathedrals without his 
special authority ; and he warns them that they will do such a 
thing at their peril (Rym. ix. 667). 

There is an amusing letter of the Bishop of Lichfield, whom 
he had sent as his ambassador to Martin V. in 1419, apparently 
to obtain a constat of the Concordat of 1418. Martin had then 
returned to Italy, and at Florence he received the envoy. Henry 
appears to have written the good Bishop a letter with his own 
hand ; whereat the Prelate stands amazed, and exclaims " Oh 
inestimabilis et inaudita principis dementia qui," &c. " proprio 
servo, propria manu exarare dignatus est." " Mihi minimo 
indicat stupor silentium quod ulterius nil habeam quod loquar," 
&c. He terms himself " tantilla creatura." He tells how 
the Pope received Henry's letter, also autograph, to the Holy 
Father. Coming out from his inner chamber with the letter in 
his hand he said " Oh Lichfieldensis, habeo de vobis litteram pro 
parte Regis," giving it to the Bishop to keep " in perpetuam 
memoriam ineffabilis bonitatis et clementise tanti principis," &c. ; 
which, with all reverence be it said, might rather have been the 
reason for the receiver of the letter keeping it than the carrier. His 
Holiness then sends Henry many papal presents, as indulgence for 
his sins once a year and in articulo mortis, a portable altar to be 
used both in the night and in interdicted places — " a favour never 
before granted by the See," says Lichfieldensis. These civilities 
are detailed in a letter dated 5th February — " Scripta," says the 
Bishop, " Mantua? manu mea mala ;" and the mission to complain 
of the Statute of Provisors must have been sent soon after, for the 
negotiation had terminated before the 17th of October, the day on 
which the unfavourable answer was given by Henry (Rym. ix. 
680). The Pope's flattery of Henry to the Bishop is very re- 
markable, though he made little by it. When he received 
Henry's letter, says the Bishop, " Cum maxima devotione oculos 
in coelum levans dixit — Putavimus primo sed jam scimus filium 
nostrum nos diligere ; vere, vere, dicit ipse, omnes theologi in 
mundo non morigerunt nos tantum sicut ista filii nostri eloquia 



lv. NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 417 

sacratissima." The indulgence and other papal courtesies had 
been granted the September preceding, but were extended in 
February after the receipt of Henry's letter (Rym. ix. 615). 



HENRY THE SIXTH. 

Note LV.— pp. 249-258. 

This is as complete a precedent for what was ridiculed in 1811 
under the name of Phantom as can well be imagined. No 
Regent existed ; the King was as incapable of giving any autho- 
rity or any assent as if he had been deranged ; yet in his name 
the Parliament was called, and under his Great Seal ; and the 
royal assent was given in his name to an Act, ratifying the pro- 
ceeding of the Lords who sealed the writ to call the Parliament 
(Rot. Par. iv. 170). It is not to be denied that the proceeding 
would have been far more legal and regular for a Regent to 
assume the royal authority, as next heir to the Crown failing the 
infant, and then to have held a Parliament. 

The only knowledge we have of the proceedings taken on 
Gloucester's claim is from the attempt which he made some 
years after (March, 1427) to obtain extended authority. The 
answer of the Lords then given recites, as the ground of their 
refusal, the proceedings in 1422 (Rot. Par. iv. 326). 

The Lords alone give the answer to Gloucester, and Dr. 
Lingard (iii. 390) appears to suppose that they alone had inter- 
fered to appoint the protectorate. But this was done by the 
whole Estates. The Commons are expressly named (Rot. Par. 
iv. 174), and when the Lords in 1427 refer to what had been 
done in 1422, they call it " an act of the said Parliament," and 
made by the Estates (Rot. Par. iv. 326). 

The use of the King's name is constant in all the instruments. 
Lie, an infant of eleven months old, summons the Parliament, 
and with the assistance of the two Houses names his council. 

2 E 



418 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lvi. 

A more absurd instance of the fiction that all must be done in 
the King's name occurs in 6 Hen. VI. (1428), when Warwick 
is appointed his governor or instructor. The King, however, 
was then nearly seven years old. He thus provides for his own 
castigation and for the indemnity of those who inflict it : — 
" Et si quod futurum non speravimus, Nos adiscere contempseri- 
mus, seu delictum vel offensam commiserimus contra traditionem 
seu praeceptum consanguinei nostri supradicti, eo casu ad Nos 
rationabiliter cohercendum et castigandum, de tempore in tempus 
secundum ipsius consanguinei nostri avisamentum et discre- 
tionem, modo (videlicet) quo alios similis aetatis principes tarn 
in hoc regno nostro quam alibi hactenus coerceri consuetum 
est aut castigari. Absque hoc quod praefatus consanguineus 
noster ea, de causa per nos aut aliam personam impeti, molestari, 
seu gravari valeat, quomodo libet in futurum. Eo (videlicet) 
quod modi cohercionis seu castigationis hujusmodi hijs praesen- 
tibus Uteris nostris non exprimuntur non obstante." — Kyra. 
x. 399. 



Note LVL— p. 263. 

No fact in history, is more clearly established than Beaufort's 
innocence of all the more grave charges brought against him. 
When Gloucester, among other accusations comparatively of 
little importance, charged him with setting on an assassin to 
conceal himself in the wall of a church and murder Henry V., 
giving for his authority the assurance of that prince, Beaufort at 
once refuted the tale by referring to the confidence his brother 
had to the last shown him, and the use he had made of his ser- 
vices. Indeed, Henry being known to suspect with some jealousy 
his uncle's ambitious nature, never could have passed over such 
a charge which gave him the means of ruining him. His con- 
duct towards his stepmother the Queen Dowager, and to L'Isle 
Adam, when suspected of treasonable designs, sufficiently proves 
this. As for the charge which some have brought against him, 
but chiefly poets and romancers, that he was an accomplice 



lvi. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 419 

with Suffolk in Gloucester's murder (Shakspeare makes him the 
principal criminal), nothing can be more absurd. The evidence 
is, indeed, all against Gloucester having been murdered by any- 
one ; and the popular rumours of the day, raised by those who 
were devoted to that prince, and enemies of the Queen and her 
favourite Suffolk, only fixed it on the latter. 

The story told by those who believe in the murder is, that 
Gloucester being arrested at Bury St. Edmunds upon charges of 
treason, was found dead in his bed next morning, and his body 
was there exposed in order to prove that he had come fairly by his 
end — the accounts giving out that he had died of palsy, but the 
belief being that he had been smothered between pillows, or 
despatched by thrusting an iron into his bowels, as in Edward II. 's 
case. It is thus that Hall, 209, and after him Holinshed, 
iii. 212, and later authors, as Baker, 188, write. The continua- 
tion of Ingulfus or the Croyland Chronicle also gives the death 
as happening in the night of his arrest (521). But it does not 
state the charge of murder, either in this passage or when relating 
Suffolk's death (525). It only says, after vehement abuse of 
Suffolk, that Gloucester was summoned by him to the Bury 
Parliament and imprisoned, and that having been quite well in 
the evening, he was next morning carried out dead and exposed, 
which may indicate a suspicion, but is very unlike the manner 
in which other charges are brought by the chronicler against 
Suffolk. Some give the story with a most material variation. 
Thus Olb. Polychr, cccxxxviii. says he died in five or six days 
after his arrest, and adds to the reports of his murder that some 
said he died of grief, but it says also that Suffolk was supposed 
to be concerned in his death (ib. cccxxxix.). Stow says (386) 
that he died on the twenty-fourth day, whether of the Parliament 
convened February 10th or of his confinement, may be uncertain. 
Fabyan says six days (619) ; he mentions that there were divers 
reports of murder, which he passes over apparently as not worthy 
of notice. He afterwards says (622) that some ascribed his 
death to Suffolk. Hardyng (ch. ccxxxii. p. 400) says the cause 
of his death was parlesye (palsy) through heavyness (grief), and 

2 e 2 



420 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lvi. 

adds the material circumstance, that he made a good end and 
confessed — a thing wholly decisive against the supposition of 
murder. Whethamstede, ii. 365, says that he took to his bed ill 
from chagrin and died in a few days (" decedit prae tristitia in 
lectum aegrotans et infra paucos dies decedit in fata"). 

He afterwards says that " this David laid down his arms with 
victory and went to receive lasting peace " (366). Whethamstede, 
it must be remembered, was a contemporary and partisan of 
Gloucester, which gives his testimony the greatest weight. 
Again, when Henry VI. pardoned the five servants of Glou- 
cester who were condemned for treason, having been arrested 
with their master, he expressly states that Heaven had stricken 
those who had been guilty of treason towards him — a notion 
which this pious and amiable prince must have regarded as 
impious if Gloucester had been murdered. Though those who 
believe in the murder., following the popular rumour, impute it 
chiefly to Suffolk, it is to be observed that of the ten articles of 
impeachment against him three years after, not one makes the 
least mention of his supposed share in Gloucester's death — all are 
confined to his public conduct, and the chief charge is his sur- 
render of Maine and Anjou. Whitelocke alone, 142 (a book of 
little authority for the times before his own), gives as the first 
article his depriving Gloucester of his office and life. Thus the 
evidence is against any murder at all having been committed. 

As for Beaufort having had a share in it, there is not a tittle of 
proof. Indeed, they who charge him with causing Gloucester's 
removal from power, make that the act of the Queen, Suffolk, 
and Buckingham, though they say that Beaufort and the Arch- 
bishop of York instigated it. 

The Continuation of the Croyland Chronicle (521) bears full 
testimony to Beaufort's character " prae cunctis in Anglia 
principibus probitate et sapientia, divitiis et gloria nominatissime 
prseconatus." 

But the other Continuation (582) also negatives in a very 
striking manner the absurd tales of his latter end having been as 
Shakspeare has depicted it — for that Continuation describes him 



lvi. NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. ' 42 1 

as having for several days, while dying, had mass performed 
and the funeral service also, and desired his will to be publicly 
read to all the clergy and monks of Winchester and the neigh- 
bourhood, and having made some corrections himself and added 
some codicils the day of his death — so that instead of a very 
disturbed death-bed, it was one peculiarly calm and collected. 
The chronicler wishes others would make so good an end, — 
" utinam ab aliis mirandum factum gloriosi et Catholici viri." 
The account of it is stated to be " taken from a person who was 
present " (582). * 

The charge of avarice and usury is better founded, but very 
venial in comparison ; and how much of it has been exaggerated 
appears from hence, that Hall (200) and Holinshed (212) have 
not scrupled to accuse him of keeping his great wealth wholly 
to himself, " which might well have holpen the King in his 
wants," as well as benefited the country. Now we have the 
most incontestable evidence that he lent his nephews a sum equal 
to nearly half a million of our money, as well as that he muni- 
ficently endowed the Hospital of St. Cross, near Winchester. 
His wealth is easily accounted for without supposing him to have 
been guilty of extortion. He was for fifty years and upwards a 
bishop, four times chancellor, and for twenty years cardinal. 

It is remarkable that Mr. Hume appears to have been wholly 
led away by the popular prejudice against Beaufort, which has 
no other foundation than the poets. He says that the death of 
Gloucester was universally ascribed to him, and adds a some- 
what strange remark, that his remorse " could not have been 
naturally expected from one hardened during the course of a long 
life in falsehood and politics." (ch. xx.) The Universal History 
(Mod. Hist., vol. lxix.) adopts the statement without the remark, 
making the statement more positive. No authority whatever is 
referred to in either work. It is known that Mr. Justice Black- 

1 The Croyland Continuation is cited from the Berum Anglic. Script, (vol. 
i.), Oxford, 1684, "vrhich contains the first complete edition of Ingulfus and 
the first publication of his continuator, Peter of Blois (Blesensis), and of the 
other continuation commonly called the Croyland Continuation. 



422 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lvii. 

stone constantly cites this book ; and yet it appears, at least in 
many places, to be most carelessly compiled. Thus, after relat- 
ing the victory at Agincourt, it says Henry obtained supplies 
from Parliament, returned with a large army, and laid siege to 
Rouen, but continued to negotiate, and obtained a treaty ; and 
then the substance is given of the Treaty of Troyes without 
naming it, so that this paragraph embraces above five years. 



Note LVII.— p. 276. 

Hume having without any authority begun by representing 
the Maid as twenty-seven years old, afterwards says that, to 
render her more interesting, ten years were taken from her age. 
The authorities he quotes for his account of her person, includ- 
ing her age of twenty-seven, are Hall, Grafton, and Monstrelet. 
Now Hall (148), Grafton (534), and Monstrelet (torn. ii. fol. 
xxxv.) all expressly say she was twenty years of age. Bergo- 
mensis (De Claris Selectisque Mulieribus, ed. 1497) makes her 
sixteen (p. cxliv. ch. clvii.). His account, however, is full of 
inaccuracies, as making Charles be crowned at Orleans, and 
stating that this (instead of Rheims) is the place where all coro- 
nations must regularly take place— stating that the Maid's ser- 
vice lasted eight years, instead of fifteen months — that it began 
in 1448, instead of 1429 — that she had the chief command in the 
army, and was burnt at Rheims instead of Rouen. Though this 
last may be a clerical error of Civ. Remensis for Rothomagus, 
the placing Orleans on the Rhone (Rhodanus) instead of the 
Loire (Liger) can hardly be thus explained. 1 Mezeray (ii. 11) 

1 Nothing can more strongly illustrate the advantage that accrued to 
authors, and to the cause of truth, from the invention of printing, than the 
want of information under which this writer lahoured, though he lived so 
near the time of which he treated. Having been born in 1434, he must in 
his early years have often heard the exploits and fate of the Maid related. 
He was an Austin friar of the name of Ferati, and took that of Philip of 
Bergamo. His book was published at Ferrara in 1497. 



lvii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 423 

says she was only fourteen, and gives the saints who bore the 
message to her — St. Michael, commander of the heavy militia, 
St. Catharine, and St. Margaret, who recompensed her for her 
assiduous worship of them. The English writers suppress as far 
as they can all mention of her — Hardynge entirely, Fabyan 
nearly so : he only says (599-601) she "feigned being with 
child, and when the contrary was known, was judged and 
burnt." Others pursue the same line, and give her the names 
of witch, sorcerer, &c, beggar's brat, person sent by Satan to 
spread unbelief, " of so foule a face that no man could discover 
her," to which her chastity is imputed in Hall (iii. 148, 158). 

It must be observed that the mystery which hangs over the 
Maid's history is not easily unravelled by any of the systems 
which have been or may be formed. But it is very possible that 
her own story may only have amounted to enthusiasm and heated 
imagination from her solitary life and constant vigils and prayers 
in chapels and hermitages ; while the Court of Charles may, 
after adopting her, have added false stories to her true ones or 
her honest delusions. The four alleged miracles were, the battle 
of the Herrings, the discovering the King, the telling of the 
sword at St. Catharine de Fierbois, and the knowledge of 
Charles's prayer. The first may have been a mere accident, 
and her words may have been only a general affirmance that 
Charles's affairs were at that moment growing more desperate ; 
and afterwards, when the news of the battle came, fought at the 
same time with her assertion, the latter may have been fancied 
to have been more specific. — As to the second, the King, by 
some accounts, was surrounded with a crowd ; but others say, 
five or six persons. It is easy to suppose that a quick eye might 
have seen something peculiar in him, or in the manner of the 
others towards him. — Then, touching the third, the sword may 
have been known to some one, though not generally, and that 
person may have told her of it. — St. Catharine de Fierbois was 
situated near Tours, in the province adjoining Orleanais, and 
was in possession of Charles, and she had been in the church on 
her way to Chinon. — The prayer alone remains, and this may 



424 NOTES AND ILLUSTBATIONS. lvii. 

have been added, or at least altered ; for it is to be observed 
that the only part of it which could not very naturally have been 
guessed is the plan of retiring to Spain or to Scotland, and even 
that may have been talked of while Charles's affairs were so des- 
perate that we are told he knew not which way to turn or what 
course to follow in the conflict of his council's opinions— that he 
retired into his cabinet and wept, and that he even spoke, and 
openly spoke, of retreating into Dauphine and leaving Orleans 
and all the rest of the country to the enemy. It must have 
been the consequence of the Maid's promotion to a command, and 
of her first success, that everything was exaggerated and many 
things were invented respecting her, partly by the policy of 
the leaders in Charles's party, partly also by the love of the 
marvellous, always strong in the vulgar. 

It is to be observed that the bulk of the older French histo- 
rians never doubt of the Maid's miraculous performances. 
Mezeray (ii. 10) gives, as we have seen, the very names of the 
angels who aided her ; and P. Daniel (vii. 56), though somewhat 
more measured in his faith, plainly tells us that they who are 
scared by the bare name of a miracle will find it hard to account 
for all the facts which are attested by such a body of authority. 

The account of the Maid's conference with Charles given by 
Langlet (Hist, de la Pucelle) from the MS. in the Bib. du Roi 
has been followed in the text. It is to be observed, however, 
that others give a different version, representing her only to have 
declared him the true heir of the crown, which he conceived 
coincided with his secret prayer for divine aid if he were the 
true heir. M. Barante (Dues de Bourg., Phil. leBon, liv. 3) and 
Sismondi (Hist, des Franc., xiii.) adopt this account. It seems 
difficult to understand how Charles should have annexed any 
such condition precedent to his prayer ; because of his being the 
true heir, but for the loss of the crown by the treaty, there could 
be no doubt. 

The story of news coming to Baudricourt of the battle of 
Rouverais after the Maid had told him of a defeat the day it 
happened, is a mere fiction. She left her home either on the 



lviii. NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 425 

12th or 13th on her journey to Chinon ; and as the battle was 
fought on the 12th, no account of it could possibly have reached 
the Meuse for several days after she had set out. 



Note LVIII.— p. 269. 

The Report of Bedford to the King is dated 20th of October, 
1428, and it distinctly speaks of the Maid, "a disciple and 
lyme of the fiende called the Pucelle, by her fals enchantments 
and sorceries " having caused the disasters of the army (Rym. x. 
408). Even if the 20th of October be not the date, still it is in 
1428, and the year began then in March. It is dated before the 
Maid had been in Charles's camp and court, for the battle of the 
Herrings was on the 12th of February, and that day she was at 
Vaucouleurs, urging Baudricourt to give her an introduction to 
Charles. All the books make the battle on the 12th of February, 
1428-29, that is 1429 New Style. P. Daniel (vii. 51) ; Stow, 
(369, cap. xv.); l L'Art de verifier les Dates ' (i. 614) ; to say 
nothing of Hume (ch. xx.) and Lingard (iii. 408). Hall makes 
it 6 Henry VI., i.e. February 1428 (iii. 146) ; and Monstrel. 
(torn, ii., fol. xxx. xxxiv.), never to be trusted as to dates, 
makes it 1428 also, and gives that as the year of the Maid's 
appearance and exploits. Now it is clear that 1429 was the 
year, and therefore Bedford could not have sent the report the 
year before. It is, however, possible that Rymer has misdated 
that document. It may have been written and sent in 1429, and 
not 1428. But there will still remain the extreme improbability 
that a person of Bedford's decided and manly character should 
have ordered the siege, and, at all events, assented to it, while 
he commanded the army in person, and should, after it failed, 
have said he could not tell by what advice it had been undertaken. 

However, it appears that the date in Rymer is wrong. In 
Rot. Par. (v. 435) we have the Duke's account of what he had 
written. He says "not long agoo," this being in June 1434, 
and he cites the words exactly as given in Rymer (x. 408). He 



426 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lviii. 

also states, as from that former paper, that the losses which he 
particularized were all owing to the panic created by the Maid's 
services, "and their lacke of sadde (wise) beleve " and their 
" unlevefull (unlawful) doubte that thei hadde of a disciple and 
lyme of the feende called the Pucille, that used fals enchaunte- 
ments and sorcerie." 

Since this note was written there has been published (at least 
in a separate form 1 ) the very able and interesting historical 
essay of Lord Mahon, " Joan of Arc." Allowance being made 
for the leaning of an author towards his heroine, there appears 
no reason to question the correctness of the view which his 
Lordship takes of the whole subject. It may, however, be 
doubted if he has sufficiently kept in mind the strong bias under 
which the testimony was given on the proceedings of the Revi- 
sion, both from the persons examined and from the current of 
public feeling then setting in against the original trial, in which 
the prejudice was all the other way. This renders it difficult for 
the historical inquirer to find his way among the conflicting 
statements. The vast number of the works which have at differ- 
ent times been published either upon the Maid or upon the 
period to which her history belongs, does not much relieve him. 
M. Chaussard has enumerated above four hundred. 

It seems to be now admitted that the story so long current, 
and which almost all accounts had adopted from Monstrelet, of 
her having for a length of time been servant at an inn and em- 
ployed in the stables, is either groundless, or at least much 
exaggerated. Nevertheless Lord M., who with Barante and 
Sismondi gives it up, is not perhaps quite justified in ascribing it 
to the Burgundian prejudices of Monstrelet. The arguments of 
Dacier (referred to Note XL VII. supra) seem to disprove the 
opinion entertained by others, as well as his Lordship, that Mon- 
strelet belonged to the Burgundian party. It is to be further 
observed, that some explanation is required of the Maid's remark- 
able address in the use of armour, and especially of her perfect 
horsemanship ; and the judicious M. Petitot, as Lord M. admits, 

1 It had appeared in the Quarterly Review. 



lix. NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 427 

considers it as certain that for some time at least she had acted 
as servant at an inn (Col. de Mem., viii. 242, 243.) His Lord- 
ship reduces this period 1o fifteen days, which would in no wise 
account for her expertness. 

Upon the subject of her communication to Charles respecting 
his secret thoughts, Lord M. follows M. Barante and M. Sis- 
mondi, who do not mention her having made any allusion to 
Charles's intended retirement from France in consequence of his 
distressed condition. 

There can be no doubt that his Lordship is right in treating 
with contempt the exaggerations of the French writers who 
dwell upon the Maid's talents in council and in the field. In- 
deed nothing can be more absurd, or more in plain contradiction 
to the whole facts, especially the entire disregard of her by 
Charles's officers and advisers in every one respect except her 
enthusiasm, her courage, and her character, which they turned 
to account. 

His Lordship also very judiciously represents her behaviour 
upon the condemnation and at the scaffold to have been very 
different from the description given by fanciful writers and en- 
thusiasts. That she should have been both shocked, dismayed, 
and terrified, was most natural, and can in no way lessen our 
pity and our indignation. Voltaire's remark, too, is perfectly 
just, that this demeanour was quite consistent with her great and 
unvaried courage in the field. (Mel. Hist., iii. 265.) 

An absurd error in translating Bedford's letter is made by 
some French writers. M. Barante (Dues de Bourg., Phil, le 
Bon, liv. 3) translates " lyme of the feende" — " limon de l'en- 
fer" (femme nee du limon de l'enfer). M. Sismondi (Hist, des 
Franc., xiii. 146) gives it accurately — " membre du diable." 



Note LIX.— p. 297. 

No notice is taken in the text of the most unaccountable of all 
the singular circumstances connected with the Maid's history — 
the attempt to prove that she did not suffer at Rouen, another 
having been substituted in her place — because upon the whole it 



428 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lix. 

should seem that this was an imposture. Nevertheless some of 
the matters related are well fitted to raise a doubt, they having 
received no kind of explanation. M. Barante passes the whole 
over in silence; M. Sismondi (xiii. 194) only mentions that 
Dom Calmet, in his Hist, de Lorraine, gives the extract from 
the contemporary chronicle of St. Thiebault. But the facts are 
worthy of attention. 

M. Turpin (Sup. de l'Encyclop., i, 531) states the grounds 
upon which many contended that the woman was not an im- 
postor who appeared the year after Bedford's death and declared 
she was Joan. First. Seven weeks were suffered by the Bishop 
of Beauvais to elapse between the last sentence and the execu- 
tion, which it is suggested one so anxious for her death never 
would have done, except that there was delay in finding the 
capital convict to be substituted for her. But no delay what- 
ever took place ; and even if there had, it was easily explained 
by the efforts made to obtain a second confession from her. 
Secondly. Charles making no effort in her behalf is urged ; but 
plainly no reliance is to be placed on this argument. Thirdly. 
A grant is produced from the Due d' Orleans in 1443 to Pierre, 
brother of the Maid, proceeding upon his petition (supplication), 
in which he represents his loyalty, and especially his services to 
the Crown in accompanying his sister when she left her country, 
and he adds that he had constantly been with her ever since. 
Fourthly. The woman married in 1436 the Sieur des Armoises 
(some accounts have it Hermoises), a gentleman of good pro- 
perty. The contract of marriage between Jeanne du Lis (the 
name her family had been allowed by Charles to take) and 
Robert des Armoises is stated by P. Yiguier, dean of St. Thie- 
bault of Metz, to have been seen by him. The MS. of the 
Dean is cited by Dom Calmet, as is the contract : and it must 
be observed that Metz was the place where she said she had 
resided after her escape, and before she returned to her home. 
M. Turpin naturally remarks upon the impossibility of believing 
that an impostor could have deceived the Maid's own brothers, 
Peter and John. He does not show that John was deceived, but 
the MS. mentions John's belief as well as Peter's. It is to be 



lix. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 429 

observed that the impostor was perfectly successful, not only 
in persuading the Chev. des Armoises, but many others, includ- 
ing the Dean himself. She resided some time at Metz with her 
husband, and she had also so far deceived the Comte de Vunem- 
bourg that he had armour made which he presented her with. 
The marriage was at Erlon : u La (says the Metz MS.) fut 
fait le mariage de M. des Hermoises, chevalier, et de Gehanne 
la Pucelle, et puis apres s'en vint le dit Sieur avec sa femme la 
Pucelle demeurer a Metz, et se tint la jusqu'a tant qu'il leur 
plaisit aller." 

M. Turpin observes that it would be better at once to deny 
the whole story than to suppose, as some have done, that she 
persuaded the brothers. But it is possible they may have been 
in league with her to deceive M. Armoises and the Due d' Orleans. 
Lord Mahon, however, adds (from Petitot) a very important 
fact, which cannot be got rid of by any such hypothesis. The 
Receiver-General's accounts at Orleans contain, it seems, three 
entries for money paid in 1436 to entertain the Maid and her 
brothers ; in 1439, to entertain la dame Jehanne des Armoises ; 
and in August, 1439, for a gift to the same lady on account of 
her great services at the siege. This appears in Petitot's Coll. 
de Mem., tome viii. 311. Llis Lordship justly remarks on the 
difficulty of supposing that the people of Orleans could have 
been deceived respecting her person (Hist. Ess., pt. i. 54) ; and 
it must be recollected that the first of these entries relates to a 
period when there must have been many still living who well 
remembered the siege only seven years before. M. Petitot 
escapes from the difficulty, and. does not meet it. 

There seems but one means of escaping from the conclusion to 
which these circumstances lead. It is not easily to be supposed 
that the fact of her having escaped from her enemies should 
have been concealed both by Charles and his partisans, and by 
the friends of Bedford; and in the proceeding, in 1456, for her 
vindication at the instance of her brothers, it seems incredible 
that the fact of her having survived should not have been brought 
forward, had not the imposture at that time been thoroughly 
exposed and forgotten. 



430 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lx. 

The ease with which all kinds of marvels seem to have ob- 
tained believers after the first appearance of the Maid is also to 
be considered. Several persons came forward pretending to 
heavenly gifts. One of them, called the Pastouret, had even 
been made use of by the French captains ; but being taken in a 
skirmish a short time before Henry's coronation he was led to 
Paris and treated as a madman. He was drowned in the Seine. 

Voltaire (Mel. Hist., iii. 265), in very dogmatically treating 
the story of Madame des Armoises as a manifest imposture, says, 
without his wonted acuteness, that she succeeded in " deceiving 
the Maid's brothers." He adds, that there were two other 
women who had also some success in passing for Joan. As 
usual, he gives no authority; and among the endless number of 
books on the subject of the Maid it is useless to conjecture 
whence he took the statement. 

The best of the later works are Le Brun's Extracts from the 
MS. in the Bib. du Roi ; Laverdy's Biography, published in 
1815; Quicherat's late publication, Proces de Jeanne d'Arc; 
and Petitot's Col. des Memoires relatifs a l'Histoire de France, 
vol, viii. 

M. Petitot (Coll. de Mem., viii. 325) has given a full account 
of Cazes' attempt to prove that the Maid was the daughter of 
Queen Isabelle by D'Orleans. It seems wholly unworthy of 
notice except that, perhaps, this opinion might explain the great 
puzzle of Madame des Armoises. 



Note LX.— p. 284. 

The history of these times is fruitful in similar illustrations 
of the weakness which the remains of the feudal system entailed 
upon the executive power. But I hardly know a better instance 
than is afforded by the intrigues which beset Charles on his 
wishing to appoint Eichemont successor of Buchan the Constable, 
killed at Verneuil in 1429. Richemont, though he had been 
won over by Bedford's address and by his own revenge, also 
by Bedford's suit to the Burgundian Princess, yet retained his 
affection for France and his antipathy to England, where he had 



lxi. NOTES AND ILLFSTKATIONS, 431 

been kept a prisoner, some say from he battle of Agineourt till 
Henry's death. The importance of winning him over to Charles 
was as clear ; and this great national object met with endless 
obstacles when Charles proposed to make him Buchan's successor. 
The Duke of Brittany, Richemont's brother, was flattered by the 
proposal, and one of the motives for it was the gaining that 
Prince. The President Louvet was sent to the court of Brittany, 
but the Duke personally hated him on account of a plot against 
his person of which he suspected him, and which Bedford had 
always adroitly urged as a reason for the Duke standing aloof 
from Charles, whose entire confidence Louvet enjoyed. Louvet 
was ordered to quit the Court of Brittany, and Charles then 
made another attempt through the Queen of Sicily, assisted by 
Tanneguy du Chatel. This gave offence to Philip, and then it 
was arranged that Richemont should not go to Charles without 
that Prince's approval. This he was pleased to give, flattered 
with the proposition. At length Richemont went, but only to 
raise another difficulty : he must have the consent of Philip and 
of the Duke of Savoy before he accepted the Constable's staff. 
The Burgundian made the retirement of Tanneguy du Chatel 
from Charles's councils a condition of his assent on account of 
the murder at Montereau, and the Duke of Brittany required 
Louvet. to be also removed because of the supposed plot against 
his person. Charles yielded, but retained ever after so great a 
spite against Richemont on account of Louvet and Tanneguy's 
dismissal, that he refused to allow his presence at the coronation 
of Rheims, and thus greatly abridged the benefits he might have 
derived from the whole arrangement. 



Note LXL— p. 350. 

There is a curious paper of M. Boivin (Ac. des Tnsc, torn. ii. 
690) ' Sur la Bibliotheque du Louvre sous Charles V., VI., et 
VII.' Charles V., who was fond of reading, and not merely on 
judicial astrology as has been sometimes said, always regarded a 



432 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxii. 

present of books as the most valuable he could receive, and partly 
from those left him by his father, partly by his own collection, 
possessed 900 volumes. They were in the tower called Tour de 
la Librairie. They were chiefly religious, but some also on astro- 
logy — many of history — some romances — few classics, and these 
only poets. He read these only in French translations. He 
had given away some volumes. After his death twenty were 
added. In 1423 there were 853 volumes, valued at 2323 livres. 
Bedford, 22nd of June, 1425, took an account of them, and he 
is said in one catalogue to have bought them for 1200 fr. 
There is no doubt that he carried the bulk of them over to 
England, though some remained in private hands, having been 
lent before 1441, when Count Angouleme bought one of them 
in London. Mr. Hallam refers to this memoir (Lit. of Mid. 
Ages, ch. 1) under the name of Bouvin, and corrects Warton, 
who had said that Cicero was among the MSS. in the library, 
which certainly is incorrect. But Christine de Pisan (Livre 
des fais et bonnes Moeurs du sage Roy Charles V., pt. iii. ch. 
12) mentions Aristotle's Ethics and Politics, Valerius Maximus, 
and Livy, as having been translated by his direction, and L'Abbe 
Lebeuf (Acad, des Insc.) gives the names of the translators. 



Note LXII.-p. 185. 

Now that the controversy between the parties Armagnacs and 
Bourguignons has so long ceased, there seems hardly in any 
quarter beyond the Duchy itself any disposition to defend the 
character of Jean-sans-Peur, or even to extenuate the enormi- 
ties of which he was guilty on almost all the occasions that gave 
either his calculating selfishness or his cruel propensities scope to 
act. But the writers of the Duchy are very fond of dwelling 
upon his capacity and his courage, and seem to take a pride in 
holding him up to admiration for those qualities. Indeed it may 
be observed that even M. Barante, though labouring less under 
this prejudice, expresses himself with more forbearance than is 



lxii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 433 

quite becoming upon the atrocities of which he was confessedly 
guilty, and dwells with complacency upon the cause of his 
favour with his nobles, his servants, and his troops. It is, 
indeed, undeniable that his blood-thirsty disposition had not made 
him unpopular. His courage dazzled, and his facility attracted, 
those about him especially who enjoyed his entire confidence when 
they had it at all. His popularity only affords another instance 
of the want of reflection and want of regard for either humanity 
or justice, which the people too often show in their estimate of 
men's merits and their feelings towards men's persons. 1 His 
whole history may be examined, and it will be found to exhibit 
no marks of good feeling, if it be not the great anxiety which 
he showed to vindicate himself from the charge of the Orleans 
murder, an anxiety which seems inconsistent with the rest of his 
conduct. It is described as so entirely possessing him, that 
during his last occupation of Paris he was much more engrossed 
with obtaining a decree of the Parliament to reverse the sentence 
against his defender, Maistre J. Petit, than with any of the other 
matters which pressed upon his attention. That Doctor had 
been dead some years ; his defence had been condemned by the 
Council of Constance. 

We have had occasion to mark the conduct of this wicked 
man at Paris. The assassination, and subsequently the league 
with the authors of the massacres, are no doubt the parts of his 
life most commonly referred to with abhorrence ; but the 
butchery of the Liegeois at the battle of Hatsbaine exceeded 
greatly all he was ever guilty of in France. That people had 
revolted, not against him, but his brother-in-law, their lay 
bishop, of whose oppressive and unlawful conduct they had good 
right to complain. But had their resistance been ever so unjus- 
tifiable, and the conduct of their prince been ever so unexcep- 
tionable, the dreadful vengeance inflicted by his ally is almost 

1 It is, perhaps, a mark of the liking which the people had for hiin that 
they gave him familiarly the appellation of Hanneton (Le Hanneton de Flan- 
dres), as we should say giddy- goose or mad-cap, probably from his high 
spirit and carelessness of danger. 

2 F 



434 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxii. 

without example even in that ferocious age. He attacked them 
with inferior numbers, no doubt, but his men (including a body 
of Scots under Mar) were completely armed, with abundance of 
cavalry, of which the insurgents were nearly destitute, and 
though their gallant defence made the battle a severe one, the 
loss he sustained in no wise justified the course he pursued. He 
strictly forbade giving any quarter. When, in spite of this 
order, several thousand prisoners had been made, probably from 
the extreme desire of ransom, the appearance of a body of men, 
as at Agincourt, supposed to meditate another attack, was 
alleged as the pretence for issuing an order that all prisoners 
shouiu be instantly put to death, and the immediate massacre of 
them ensued. The field was covered with from twenty -four to 
twenty-six thousand bodies, by his own account, though he omits 
all mention of this number including the murdered captives. For 
several days after the battle the brothers were occupied in putting 
to death such of the citizens of Liege as had taken part in the 
revolt or w r ere suspected of having done so. The Duke and the 
Bishop presided in person over this renewed massacre. In their 
presence the wretched victims were either beheaded or thrown 
into the river by the dozen and the score. " II s'acharna," says 
Fabert, a strong Burgundian partisan, speaking of the Bishop, 
"non seulement sur les coupables et sur les chefs, mais sur les 
femmes, sur les enfans, sur les pretres, et sur les religieux. 
On ne voyait autour de Liege et des villes qui en dependent que 
des forets de roues et des gibets, et la Me use regorgeoit de la 
multitude des corps de ces malheureux, qu'on y jetoit. deux a deux 
lies ensemble" (Hist, des Dues de Bourgogne, i. 41). These 
atrocities were ascribed chiefly to the Bishop, who from thence 
obtained the name of Jean-sans-Pitie ; but the Duke, " Notre 
Intrepide," as Fabert calls him, had his full share in them, and 
the massacre at the battle was his special work. It was from 
the courage he showed on this occasion that he got his name of 
Jean-sans-Peur. Some have connected it with the fatal battle 
of Nicopolis, where the French knights, whose crusade he led 
against Bajazet, were defeated, and their leader, then Count cle 



lxii. NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 435 

Nevers, taken prisoner ; but this was not the occasion. The 
Livre de Faits et Gestes de Boucicault, cited in a former Note, 
gives a full account of the expedition (ch. xxiii. to ch. xxviii.), 
and of the cruelties committed at the siege, where, under the 
Burgundian's orders, the Turkish prisoners, who had surrendered 
on promise of being spared, were all massacred upon the 
approach of Bajazet to relieve the place. It seems a prophecy- 
was reported to have been made that Bajazet would do well to 
spare the Burgundian, who was destined to kill more Christians 
than he had Turks. This is not mentioned by the chronicler of 
Boucicault, who describes the pain suffered by the Burgundian 
on seeing his companions put to death — " Si grand douleur avoit 
au coeur luy qui est un ties bon et benin seigneur ;" and he com- 
pares the killing of these Frenchmen, who had come to invade 
the Turk and had brought the utmost scandal on the name of 
their country by the shameless profligacy of their lives during 
their pious expedition, to the massacre of the Innocents by Herod 
(ch. xxvi.) 

Another staunch Burgundian, in the service of Philip le Bon, 
Olivier de la Marche, extols Jean-sans-Peur for the affair of 
Liege, but states the number of killed at only " about 15,000." 
In recounting his exploits he makes mention of the Orleans 
murder thus gently, " Ce que j'appelle plus grande chose que 
grand bien " (Mem. de Messire Olivier de la Marche, part i., 
ch. 2). 

When we contemplate the life of this man, and reflect on the 
general abhorrence in which his memory is held, it is difficult to 
avoid the observation that men's judgments are ever determined 
rather by the circumstance of some single deed against an indi- 
vidual than by the greater atrocity of such crimes committed 
against great numbers. The murder of the Duke of Orleans 
certainly dwells far more upon all men's minds than either the 
wholesale butcheries of Paris or the massacre of the Liegeois and 
the Turks. We may further observe, that even in those abomi- 
nable cruelties there was little more to be reprobated than in 
Henry V.'s at Agincoui t, perhaps nothing so much to be abhorred 

2 f 2 



436 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxiii. 

as the Black Prince's conduct at Limoges ; yet these two princes 
have ever been regarded with admiration for their courage, cer- 
tainly not greater than the Burgundian's, and their victories, 
far more prejudicial to the interests of their own country, as well 
as more cruel towards that of their adversaries, than any of the 
Burgundian's successes. 



Note LXIII.— p. 318. 

Such interferences of popular clamour with the course of the 
Government and against the best interests of the country are not 
confined to the fifteenth century. The unavoidable ignorance of 
the multitude upon delicate questions of foreign policy Iras often 
been noted as a sufficient reason for all statesmen being very 
slow to follow the dictates of the public voice on these important 
subjects — important, indeed, when it is considered that neither 
more nor less than the question of peace or war is involved in 
their discussion. Two remarkable illustrations of this danger 
have been afforded in the history of England, the one a century, 
the other half a century ago. After Walpole's truly wise admin- 
istration had preserved the peace of the country at home and 
abroad, as well as its free government, for twenty years, he was 
reluctantly driven into hostilities with Spain by a war-whoop 
which his adversaries raised for merely factious purposes ; they 
afterwards admitted to Mr. Burke that they had not the shadow 
of a case against Spain or against Walpole ; they acted entirely 
through the clamour of the ignorant multitude. Again, in 1803, 
the clamour of the country, acting through, and excited by the 
Press in the attacks upon Napoleon, if it did not occasion, cer- 
tainly hastened the war which raged for eleven years, and from 
the burthens of which we shall not recover for a century to come. 
It may be added that Lord Chatham had a decided opinion in 
favour of exchanging Gibraltar against Minorca, by which sacri- 
fice he expected to obtain the inestimable advantage of Spain's 
co-operation against France; but his letters remain, in which 



lxiv. NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 43? 

the boldest of ministers, and the least under dread of the people, 
betrays the excess of his apprehensions that such a proposal 
would raise a popular outcry enough to overwhelm himself and 
his ministry. 

It is not a sound view of these important subjects which 
should conclude that the public opinion ought to have no weight 
on questions of this description. The just inference is that all 
pains should be taken to diffuse as much as it is possible to 
diffuse accurate knowledge, and inculcate right opinions respect- 
ing them, while statesmen are bound to exercise their own judg- 
ment, formed upon their better opportunities of discussion and 
ampler means of information, and fearlessly to resist clamour 
which they know to be groundless, proceeding, as too often it 
does, from some temporary delusion. 



Note LXIV.— p. 327. 

In 1788, the precedents on the subject of a Regency were 
examined by Committees of both Houses of Parliament. The 
Eeport of the Lords is to be found in their Journals, Vol. xxxviii. 
277, "Precedents respecting proceedings on the prevention or 
interruption of the Royal authority by infancy, sickness, in- 
firmity, or otherwise." 

In each House two questions were raised, the power of pro- 
viding for the defects of the Royal authority, and the mode of 
exercising that power, — whether the Regent should be ap- 
pointed by address or an Act of Parliament ; and whether the 
Act should confer the government with or without restrictions. 
Upon both questions, but especially upon the former, the argu- 
ments, as far as precedents were concerned, turned mainly upon 
those of Henry VI.'s reign. Mr. Pitt, 16 Dec, 1788, after 
adverting to those of Edward III. and Richard II., which were 
of Councils appointed to exercise the Royal authority, relied 
chiefly upon Gloster's having called the Parliament, and the Act 
mentioned in the text having been passed to ratify the assembling 



438 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxiv. 

of it, and afterwards appointing the "Regent, with the denial im- 
plied in the proceeding of all right in the heir to the Crown, who, 
though only heir-presumptive, was equal to an heir-apparent in 
the circumstances of the case. Mr. Fox held any appeal cheap 
to the precedents of a barbarous age, when the country was on 
the eve of civil war ; and he dw T elt strongly on the fact of par- 
liamentary privilege being so little understood, that at the 
period of the later precedents the Speaker of the Commons was 
in prison under a commitment by the Lords, upon a judgment in 
favour of the Duke of York, then claiming the crown, In the 
House of Lords the precedents were much more fully and learn- 
edly discussed, 23 Dec, 1788. Lord Camden held the earlier one 
of Henry VI. to be a "good, substantial, and legal precedent," 
and affirmed that the proceedings " were then as grave and formal 
as at any period of our history." Lord Loughborough im- 
peached the Report as singularly inaccurate; but he only pointed 
out one or two omissions of little moment. Lord Stormont en- 
tered into some details to show the distracted state of France, 
and contended that the times weie any thing rather than tranquil. 
Lord Grenville did not argue the precedents except negatively, 
holding that there weie none strictly in point, and that the ques- 
tion must be determined on principle and the analogies of the 
constitution. By far the ablest speech delivered in either House 
on this great occasion was that of Lord Lansdowne, whose views 
were enlarged and truly statesmanlike. He considered, that 
instead of throwing the responsibility of so momentous a pro- 
ceeding upon Parliament, by calling for Resolutions on which to 
ground a Bill, the Ministers should have made up their minds 
to act upon their precedents, or if those failed, then to act upon 
principle ; whereas they shifted their responsibility upon Parlia- 
ment. He blamed this novel practice, introduced in the Ame- 
rican War, as confounding the executive and legislative functions, 
lessening the responsibility of the Government, and weakening 
the control of the Parliament. That some risk would be run 
by whoever affixed the Great Seal without the Royal authority, 
he admitted ; but then great offices, he said, were created for the 



lxiv. NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 439 

performance of great acts ; and no one who was unwilling to run 
great hazards should accept great situations. 

The result of these debates was the adoption by both Houses of 
resolutions, that the right to appoint a Regent had devolved upon 
them ; that the appointment should be made by Bill ; and that 
the office should be given under restrictions touching the grant 
of peerages, pensions for life, and patent places, and with the 
exclusion from making household appointments which were 
vested in the Queen, as having the custody of the Royal person. 
The Bill which was brought in upon the Resolutions, passed 
through the Commons with considerable majorities, though much 
less than on ordinary occasions; 1 and it had reached the last 
stage before any period was fixed at which these restrictions were 
to cease — Mr. Pitt's extraordinary plan being, that Parliament 
should again be resorted to for another measure, if it appeared 
that the King's illness was likely to continue. Just as the Bill 
was about to leave the House, he agreed to insert a provision 
confining the restrictions to three years. It had been read a 
second time in the Lords, when the King's recovery put an end 
to the whole proceedings. But in the mean time a Commission 
had been sealed without any authority except the votes of the 
two Houses, and the Session was opened under it. The adoption 
of this by the King on his recovery has been considered as 
making the precedent of 1788-9 an authority of all the three 
Estates of Parliament in favour of proceeding by Bill, and not 
by Address, and in favour of two Estates acting, not without the 
third, which would be intelligible, but with the third's concur- 
rence only given by themselves. 

In Ireland an entirely different course was pursued. The two 
Houses there proceeded by address, calling upon the I eir- 
apparent to take upon himself the Government as Regent of 
Ireland during the King's illness, with all the regal powers and 
prerogatives belonging to the Crown. All the questions that 
arose in that country were determined by large majorities, the 

1 On the peerage restriction, 268 to 204, instead of above two to one, which 
at that time was under the usual proportion. 



440 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxiv. 

opposition appearing to be in possession of the Government even 
before the Regency commenced. 

In 1810 the King again fell ill, and never recovered. The 
precedent of 1788 was followed, and the Regency was conferred 
on the heir-apparent by an Act which continued in force till the 
demise of the Crown in January, 1820. The principal alteration 
made was in the time of the restrictions continuing ; it was re- 
duced to one year. Narrow majorities only sanctioned the adop- 
tion of the precedent ; on the Peerage question 226 to 210 ; and 
on the Household appointments the clause of the Government 
was rejected. 

The Union having destroyed whatever of authority the Irish 
proceedings might pretend to, the English precedents of 1788 
and 1811 must be understood to have fixed the law of the Con- 
stitution. That they sin against its fundamental principles is 
certain. They introduce a proceeding wholly anomalous and 
absurd — the pretence of passing an Act by the three branches 
when only two are in existence ; and they rudely violate the mo- 
narchical principle by sanctioning a capitulation of the undoubted 
heir to the Crown with the other Estates, thus armed with the 
power of making terms or imposing conditions. Both precedents 
were the result of the relative position of parties in Parliament, 
and the way in which they were balanced against each other. 

In 1423 the Commission does not set forth that the King is 
unable to attend (Rot. Pari. iv. 197) ; but in 1455, when he 
was ill and incapable, it is stated that he cannot be present 
"propter certas justas et rationabiles causas" (Rot. Par. v. 
278). Sometimes the Commission sets forth his illness as the 
cause, and that attending to business would prevent his recovery 
(Rot. Par. v. 453). In Commissions now, when the King does 
not attend, it is said, that " for divers causes and considerations 
we cannot conveniently be present in our Royal person," or 
" do not think fit to be present in our Royal person." (See Note 
LXXII., infra.') 



lxv. NOTES AND ILLUSTBATIONS. 441 

Note LXV.— p. 335. 

The great diversity in the ultimate result of the English strug- 
gles for a free, that is, a rational and stable mixed constitution, 
and those of the French barons and towns, might lead the care- 
less observer to imagine that there was a greater contrast in the 
circumstances or in the character of the two nations, and of their 
popular bodies, than really existed. The cause of the diversity 
appears to have been this : — The sovereign in France obtained 
every accession of territory, both of his own domain and of the 
dominion at large. This enabled him, with the new power and 
influence thus acquired, to press upon his former subjects. What- 
ever he obtained beyond the force required to maintain his autho- 
rity over the new dominions was available to him in extending 
his authority over the old. But this operation depended upon 
the circumstance of each province so added having previously 
been under some chief possessed of a certain power independent 
of his vassals, beside the right to obtain help from those vassals 
to a certain extent, that is, on certain occasions. If in France 
the whole fiefs had been thoroughly incorporated and become one 
community with a central government, and with one assembly 
acting for the whole, it would probably have happened there as 
in England, that the Crown could do everything but raise money, 
and that the necessity of applying to the body for supplies would 
have laid the foundation of a popular constitution, by giving the 
people a regular control over the sovereign's measures. It is 
quite certain that no assemblies in any part of France ever showed, 
in any period of French history, a more abject submission to the 
reigning sovereign, or flattered his caprices and crouched before 
his violence more slavishly and more shamefully, than the English 
Parliament in the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth cen- 
turies, with the single exception of money grants, in which alone 
the most cruel and profligate tyrants ever experienced the least 
difficulty. But had England, like France, continued divided 
into seven principalities, each having its Parliament as well as 
its domain, the Plantagenets and the Tudors would not have 



442 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxvi. 

found more difficulty in obtaining supplies from any one than 
they did in gaining the consent of the body which represented 
the whole seven, to their very worst acts, whether legislative or 
judicial, of pillage or of murder. — See Lord Brougham's Pol. 
Phil., Pt. I. Ch. XIII. 



Note LXVI. — p. 335. States- General before Henry's Invasion. 

The constitutional history of France is involved in still greater 
obscurity than that of England. The assembling of the States- 
General being only occasional, and the more regular meetings 
of the Provincial States being occupied with matters of inferior 
importance, no details have been preserved by historians which 
can throw a steady light on their proceedings ; often, indeed, the 
mention of their having been held at all is omitted. The 
records of the eleven Provincial Parliaments, and of the more 
important Parliament of Paris, are preserved, but they relate 
chiefly to judicial proceedings. The Ordinances are the only 
authority to which we can resort for information respecting the 
history of the legislature ; but these are confined to occasions on 
which some law was made or other measures finally adopted, and 
take no notice of any other proceedings ; and even where they 
are most full, they give the result only, without noting the steps 
by which it was arrived at. In the earlier periods, too, there 
were not many Ordinances made, at least .not many that have 
reached us. Between the years 921 and 1051 none are to be 
found, and only two between the latter year and Louis IX. 
(St. Louis') time, the middle of the thirteenth century. The 
others are not properly Ordinances, but rather charters or grants 
to particular towns, or regulations touching the royal domains, 
than general laws. It may further be observed that the remon- 
strances of Provincial States, and the concessions made to them, 
were sometimes important, and had a bearing upon the general 
system by affecting the power of the Crown and the influence 
of the people ; yet in very many instances the Ordinances contain 



lxvi. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 443 

no traces of such proceedings, because, generally speaking, the 
business brought before those Provincial States was of subordi- 
nate and local interest. Edict differs from Ordinance in being 
usually confined to one matter ; Ordinances are more general 
and extensive, but we shall use the latter term in all cases. 

It appears that the opinion is unfounded which ascribes to 
the States and the Parliaments a different origin. Both arose 
out of the National Assemblies held at stated periods in the 
earliest times of the monarchy, and before the feudal system 
could be said to be established. There were originally two 
meetings held in the year, one after seed time, the other after 
harvest, but afterwards the only meeting was in spring. These 
meetings were called Champs de Mars, and subsequently Champs 
cle Mai. They were attended by all warriors, that is, all the 
freemen, at first, afterwards by the chiefs and other leaders, 
and were military assemblages for mustering the forces and 
announcing the enterprises in preparation. By degrees the 
attendance was confined to the tenants in chief (in capite), the 
vassals of the Crown, and many of the prelates also attended. 
This restriction had been completed at the end of the Second 
race ; but some judicial business had in the process of time be- 
come joined with the other subjects of deliberation, or perhaps 
we should rather say of announcement, of notification by the 
sovereign to the leading men of the community. He had 
another council selected by himself, and to which only those 
came whom he summoned. It assisted and advised him, particu- 
larly in preparing the matters to be laid before the General 
Assembly. Although differing from that Assembly by being 
selected, it yet was taken from the same classes, the barons and 
prelates ; and beside meeting as often as its aid was required by 
the King, it always met at the same time with the General 
Assembly. It thus happened that the two bodies became by de- 
grees confounded together ; and though we are wholly ignorant 
of the steps by which their consolidation was brought about, 
we know that it became complete during the first three centuries 
after the establishment of the Third race, probably before the 



444 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxvi. 

beginning of the thirteenth century. Certainly in the earliest 
part of that century there existed no longer two bodies, but only 
one, which had then acquired the name of Parliament. The 
stated meetings under the First race were called by the name of 
Mallum or Mallus, sometimes Placitum. sometimes Synod. 
Under the Second race they were called Colloquium also. The 
translation of this term (and it is said also of Mallum) into 
Parliament occurs not before the time of Louis VI. (le Gros) ; 
but in that of Louis VIIL, at the beginning of the thirteenth 
century, it became the usual appellation. There were then 
eleven Parliaments, beside that of Paris, and all those bodies 
had become merely judicial, that of Paris exercising a superin- 
tending power over the other tribunals. Although all these Par- 
liaments met from time to time, yet the regularity of their 
assembling was enforced by the great changes which Louis IX. 
(St. Louis) introduced into legal proceedings. Philip IV. (the 
Fair), in 1302, fixed the ordinary meetings of the Parliament of 
Paris to be held twice a year. It is sometimes said that he also 
fixed Paris as the place of the meeting, but this is erroneous : 
his Ordinance rather assumes Paris to be the place than appoints 
it. We know that of sixty-nine Parliaments held between 1254 
and 1302, all but two had been held at Paris; and then it is 
equally certain that after the date of the Ordinance (1302) the 
Parliament was sometimes, though rarely, held elsewhere. The 
name Parliament of Paris was always given to it since 1291. 
In 1284 Philip III. (le Hardi) assembled a meeting of prelates 
and barons to consult them on the Pope's pretensions to dispose 
of crowns. This meeting, by some considered as one of the 
States, ordained him to submit to the claim. 

Although it had become in process of time a merely judicial 
body, and rarely consulted upon state affairs, yet at all times 
the National Assembly, both in France and England, had exer- 
cised certain judicial functions, together with its more general 
attributes. Most of the Ordinances before 1334 purport to be 
by the advice and consent of the Parliament ; and even where 
this is not stated, the coincidence of their date with the known 



lxvi. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 445 

date of the Parliament's meeting, shows plainly enough that they 
continued to be the result of a deliberation with the body. 
After that time the Parliament was only called upon to register 
the Ordinances. This gave a considerable influence to the Par- 
liament of Paris, which had the right of remonstrance before 
registry ; the Provincial Parliaments only could remonstrate 
after registry. But the influence of the former was always con- 
siderable upon the conduct of affairs, not merely from the right 
of remonstrance, but from their regularly meeting at stated 
times, and from the importance of the members, magistrates and 
other lawyers, persons of weight with the community at large. 
The Parliament of Paris, beside remonstrating, might refuse to 
register ; and though compellable by the King holding a Bed 
of Justice, which was a more solemn meeting of the Parliament 
attended by the King's court in great state, yet it cannot be 
doubted that many Ordinances were prevented and many mo- 
dified in consequence of this power of refusal. A compro- 
mise was made, as always happens when two conflicting powers 
exist in any state not under despotic government. 

The States-General, on the other hand, never had an ap- 
pointed period of meeting ; they were only called by the crown 
occasionally, when assistance was wanted. The Provincial States, 
which were the remains of the old Mallum, Placitum, Collo- 
quium, or Parliament of the province when it had been a sepa- 
rate and independent principality, continued to meet with some 
regularity after it was united with other principalities ; but the 
influence of such a body necessarily became very inconsiderable 
after the union, and it was only when the States-General, or 
those for all the principalities, were convoked, that they could 
have any great weight in the management of the general con- 
cerns. Thus the Provincial States from the union of the prin- 
cipalities, although their meeting was more regular, and the 
States-General from their having no regular meeting, alike be- 
came of less importance than the Parliament. 

There prevails great uncertainty both as to the manner in 
which the States were substituted for the Parliament in so far 



446 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxvi. 

as regards their interference .with state affairs, the period at 
which the Parliament became confined to merely judicial func- 
tions, retaining" only the right of remonstrance as regarded 
general legislation, and the time at which the States- General 
were first assembled. The common opinion considers Philip IV. 
(the Fair) as the first prince who convoked them, when in 1302 
he was desirous of their support against Boniface VIII., with 
whom he had quarrelled for his interference with the church 
patronage of the Crown. But it is probable that St. Louis half 
a century earlier had held a meeting at Beaucaire (1254) of 
Prelates, Barons, and Burgesses ; it is at least certain that his 
Ordinance upon the export trade addressed to the Seneschal of 
Beaucaire recognises those bodies by making their assent in a 
council necessary before the Ordinance could be suspended. 
There is, however, no doubt that Philip IV. first gave the 
States General the name, and conferred upon them a regular 
character by requiring the towns to send deputies, while the 
Prelates and Barons should attend in person. Beside assembling 
them at Paris in 1302 against the Pope, he convoked them at 
Tours in 1308 to sanction his atrocious persecution of the 
Templars, and again in 1314 at Paris to advise him — that is to 
have the appearance of supporting him in his tampering with the 
currency, and to join him in levying a tax upon all sales of per- 
sonal chattels. The States thus assembled were those of the Langue 
d'Oil, or the provinces in the nortli and centre of France, living 
under customary law ; but probably he took the same proceedings 
with the States of the Langue d'Oc, or the southern provinces, 
living under the written law — that is, the Roman law, the law of 
the Barbaric Codes. That Philip IV., the most absolute of all 
the French Kings, and the one who went furthest in levying 
taxes by his own mere authority, should have been, if not the 
first to assemble the States, yet certainly the first to clothe them 
with the authority derived from the manner of their composition 
being fixed, is a clear proof how little those assemblies in that 
age afforded a check to the power of the crown. 

His son, Louis X. (Hutin), a prince of very inferior capacity, 



lxvi. NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. 447 

took part with the Barons, as Philip had with the community, and 
revoked the greater part of the Ordinances for restricting their 
privileges, and rendering the administration of justice independent 
of their authority. But, probably to avoid exciting the jealousy 
of those Barons, he did not convoke the States General, and 
only answered the complaints of the provinces through their 
States separately. His concessions to those provinces, made in 
consequence of their States representing their grievances, were 
most important, although chiefly in favour of the Barons, and in 
their immediate effects injurious by abrogating wholesome Ordi- 
nances of the three preceding reigns. The charter to the 
Normans especially was of great value, because, beside restraining 
the use of torture, it pledged the sovereign to abstain from 
tampering with the coin, limited the right of purveyance, pro- 
hibited the removal of causes from the Norman Exchequer to 
the Parliament of Paris, and, above all, declared that no tenth 
or other tax should be levied, and no service of any kind exacted, 
beyond those established by ancient usage. This is by some writers 
represented as an Ordinance of the States General. (Mezeray ; 
Boulainvilliers, ii. 468, who gives it as made in Philip VI.'s 
reign; Encyc, vi. 22; Thib., i. 96, 110.) Other concessions 
were made to satisfy the Barons, as restoring the right of private 
war. The States of Languedoc obtained at the same time a com- 
pliance with their demands, though they were more reasonable, 
and made no reference to private war. Most of the other pro- 
vinces succeeded likewise in their application to the King ; and 
the whole of these proceedings must be allowed to have raised 
the States in importance as deliberative bodies, although the 
probability is that Louis X. never assembled the States General 
at all. His death leaving only a posthumous son, opened the 
succession to his brother, Philip V. (le Long), who assembled 
the States (1317) in order to obtain the recognition of his title, 
and the exclusion of his niece as far as any law goes. This was 
the origin of the exclusion of females. — (See Note LXXII., 
infra.) He again in 1319 convoked them on account of the con- 
fusion in the finances, and in 1321 to consider the grievances of 



448 NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. lxvi. 

which the country complained ; but no particulars are preserved 
of the proceedings at those meetings. Thus much is certain, 
that while he in his proclamations admitted the subject's right 
to be free from all but the established burthens, and from all 
tampering with the currency, his conduct set such principles at 
defiance, quite as much as his father's had done. Charles IV., 
whose reign is described in detail by no historian, commenced it 
with frauds upon the currency, apparently consented to by the 
Third Estate, in 1322 ; and he afterwards revoked all the grants 
of crown lands made by his father and his brothers. The race 
of Capet ended in him, and the family of Valois succeeded. 

Philip VI. (de Valois) finding that the expenses occasioned 
by the English invasion in the north, and by the extravagance 
of his own court, required extraordinary supplies, convoked the 
States General at Paris in 1343. They granted him the alcavala, 
lately introduced into Castille — by far the worst tax that ever 
was invented ; it was fixed at two-fifths per cent, on all sales 
whatever. He had already established the salt-tax (gabelle) 
without any consultation of the States ; and in return for the 
alcavala he promised a redress of their grievances, particularly 
a restoration of the coinage to its former standard. But he soon 
after reduced it, by several operations, to one-fifth of its value, 
pretending to have obtained the consent of the States, whom 
he never had assembled upon the subject. He made other 
Ordinances of his own mere authority, deserving of great com- 
mendation. One of them encouraged the resort of foreign 
merchants to the fairs of Champagne, by giving them freedom 
from all duties, perfect security for their persons, and a court 
composed partly of judges, partly of merchants, for the sum- 
mary decision without appeal of all disputes. 1 Another Ordi- 
nance (1344) regulated the appellate jurisdiction of the Par- 
liament, abridging the delays of its proceedings, and requiring 
that each cause should be heard and disposed of in its turn. 

1 It was a had addition to this wholesome Ordinance that required all the 
clothiers in the great towns to expose their goods at the fairs before they 
were suffered to sell them in their own shops. 



lxvi. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 449 

Philip also confirmed the Norman charter of Louis X. on the 
demand of the Norman States ; and historians represent the decla- 
ration which he made (1338 or 1339) against levying taxes 
without consent, generalising the most important provision of 
that charter, as having been obtained from him by the remon- 
strances of the States General. 

The invasion of Edward III. had in part occasioned the calling 
of the States in 1343 ; but the progress of his arms in Gascony, 
and the expectation of a more formidable descent in the north, 
made Philip convoke the estates of the Langue d'Oil at Paris 
and those of the Langue d'Oc at Toulouse early in 1346, to meet 
the complaints which had everywhere arisen from the forced loans, 
the grievance of purveyance, and still more, the gabelle and 
the alcavala. Some relief was given from those oppressions by 
stopping the loans, regulating the purveyance, suppressing certain 
places, and prohibiting the grant of protection to courtiers against 
their creditors. But the principal concession was a promise that the 
gabelle and the alcavala should cease with the exigencies of the war, 
and that the States should be soon assembled to abolish those taxes. 
The southern States granted a hearth -duty for the expenses of 
the war ; and all the promises made were immediately for- 
gotten by the King, who to the other burthens added that of 
further depreciating the currency. After the battle of Crecy, 
when his difficulties had greatly increased, he had recourse, not 
to the States, but to new tampering with the coin, collecting the 
gabelle more rigorously, levying a tax on all persons not noble, 
and extorting money from the Jews and Lombards. He also 
disbanded his army both in the north and in the south, to save 
the cost of maintaining them during the winter ; they were chiefly 
maintained by plundering the country until he again mustered 
them for the field. 

In the following campaign he did not improve his position ; 
but both parties were exhausted by the war, and a truce was 
agreed on, which lasted during the remaining three 
years of Philip's life. In the course of that time he 
repeatedly debased the currency or raised its denomination — in 

2 G 



450 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxvi. 

one year no less than nine times ;- but he obtained from the city 
of Paris an aid in the shape of a duty on all goods sold within 
the town. He also exposed to sale the magisterial offices, which 
had the right of imposing fines for offences. He obtained from 
the States of the Langue d'Oc, which always met more frequently 
than those of the Langue d'Oil, some aids in return for the ex- 
traordinary grants made to them through his commissioners, who 
were authorized to pardon all crimes, treason excepted, to 
ennoble persons of base condition, to give letters of legitimacy — 
in short, to exercise all the powers of the crown, so they only 
obtained supplies. 

The assembling of the States during the following reign was both 
more frequent and more important, in consequence of the Crown's 
difficulties being increased by the extravagance of the court, 
and still more by the disasters of the war. As the truce was to 
expire in August, 1351, John applied to the States of the Langue 
d'Oc, but summoned them to Paris with those of the Langue d'Oil 
in February ; and being unable to obtain from their combined 
resolutions the help required, he treated with the States of each 
province separately. From some, as Normandy, he obtained a 
duty on sales, and in return gave a renewed prohibition of 
private war. From others he received the same duty, and in re- 
turn gave the Barons a restoration of the right of private war 
and a restriction of purveyance. The States of Languedoc gave a, 
fixed sum for each senechaussee on condition that nothing more 
should be demanded during the year, and so of other provinces. 
But all the while the King was making constant changes in the 
currency, insomuch that in the very same year (1351) he altered 
it no less than eighteen times ; and by such operations and other 
exactions drove the.Lombard bankers out of the country. The truce 
was renewed for another year, and by such exactions and such 
dealings with the coin he contrived to carry on his government 
without any meeting of the States till 1355, when the renewal 
of the war compelled him to assemble them. The proceedings 
of this meeting were by much the most important that had as 
yet taken place. There were voted thirty thousand men and 



lxvi. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 451 

five millions of livres, to be raised by a graduated capitation tax, 
the real origin of the taille, or rural income tax ; but great 
concessions were made by the King for this aid. Purveyance 
was wholly abolished, and resistance by force to whoever should 
seize any provisions under this name was expressly authorised. 
The vexation exercised towards foreign money dealers was pro- 
hibited ; all monopolies of the great officers and other courtiers 
were abolished ; the currency was fixed permanently ; the duty 
on sales of personal property was made applicable to the King 
and the royal family. But the most essential of all the changes 
introduced were these three : — that no resolution of two estates 
should bind the third, thus making their joint assent necessary 
in all cases — that each of the States General should appoint 
superintendents, and all the Provincial States officers, to regulate 
the levy of the taxes, as well as to prevent their produce from 
being diverted to purposes other than the charges of 
the war — and that the States General should be con- 
voked the following November, beside meeting again in March 
without any new summons. 

This Ordinance, issued 22nd January, 1351, has often been 
likened to the Great Charter of England, and in one respect the 
resemblance is complete : the King John of France no more in- 
tended to stand by the concessions he had made than did his 
namesake of England. However, he was defeated and 19 s ep ^ 
taken prisoner at Poictiers before he had an opportunity 1351 - 
of breaking his word ; and when the States of the Langue d'Oil 
met to aid the Dauphin in carrying on the war, and paying his 
father's ransom, they compelled him to make still more ample sur- 
renders of the royal authority — to dismiss his councillors, and even 
his domestics — to give the States the power of meeting without his 
summons — and of appointing deputies of their own who should re- 
construct his Council, the Parliament of Paris, and the Chamber 
of Accounts. Nearly the same course was pursued by the States 
of the Langue d'Oc, assembled at Toulouse under Armagnac as 
the King's lieutenant. They granted 8000 men, with their pay ; 
the States of the Langue d'Oil 30,000, in return for the large con- 

2 g 2 



v 

'^452 NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. lxvi. 

cessions which had been extorted. But no sooner had this revo- 
lution (for such it was) been accomplished than the Dauphin 
found means to sow dissensions among the Three Estates, making 
the prelates and barons jealous of the towns, while he could trust 
to the pressure of the new taxes exciting general discontent ; but 
above all he could rely on the alarm which now began to spread 
over the country at the great bodies of freebooters, reinforced 
with the disbanded soldiers during the truce. The prevalence of 
this alarm prevented the Dauphin's adversaries from opposing 
him in his resistance or contempt of the States ; x and after a short 
delay he dismissed them, with a declaration that he should hence- 
forth exercise himself the royal authority until the King's libe- 
ration. But the adherents of Marcel and Lecocq, who had been 
the popular leaders in the late proceedings, were severely punished 
when the reaction took place, and when the Dauphin had the 
support of the barons against the commons and the towns. 
Marcel himself was killed in a tumult, and as many of his fol- 
lowers as could be seized met the same fate, though under the 
forms of a trial. It should seem that the jealousy now esta- 
blished among the Three Estates, and the dread in which all the 
community now lived of the armed bands spread over the country, 
deprived the States of the whole power which they had recently 
exercised against the Crown. The Dauphin several times con- 
voked them without any apprehension of their again encroaching 
on his authority. He obtained but little aid from them in the 
conduct of the war, nevertheless they joined him in rejecting the 
28 May, shameful treaty partitioning France between Edward 
1359 - and himself, which John had signed in London as the 
price of his liberation ; and they also conferred upon him the 
title of Eegent during his father's captivity. They were not 
asked to ratify the Treaty of Bretigny, by which the war was 
closed, and which was nearly as unfavourable to England as 
John's partition would have been to France ; but there was no 
occasion for any such sanction, as the peace, had it been ever so 
disadvantageous to the country, was sure to diffuse universal joy 
1 P. Dan., v. 471. 



lxvi. NOTES AND ILLUSTBATIONS. 453 

among a people exhausted by the long and calamitous war which 
it seemed to terminate, and now suffering cruelly under the de- 
vastations of the " Compagnies" the armed bands to which it 
had given birth. 

The name of " Wise" which the Dauphin (afterwards Charles 
V.) owed to his love of reading (Note LXL, supra), and espe- 
cially, it is said, to his taste for judicial astrology, belonged to 
him by a far higher title. History presents us with few examples 
of more distinguished talents for the conduct of affairs in seasons of 
the greatest difficulty than he displayed, without any considerable 
exception, during the whole of his regency and reign. The want 
of firmness which he had early shown made it be supposed that 
the defect extended from personal to moral courage, but this was 
certainly a mistake ; for the hesitation which has been imputed 
to him on some occasions was only in appearance, and his tem- 
porary inaction, his yielding to circumstances, arose undoubtedly 
out of the often inextricable difficulties of his situation, from which 
he was sedulously providing the means of escaping, if he could 
not surmount them. In all his necessities he carefully avoided 
tampering with the coin ; he never imposed taxes of his own 
mere authority ; he protected the Jews, and obtained advances from 
them ; he gained the favour of the clergy, who proved most useful 
allies against the English ; and he steadily resisted the encroach- 
ments of the Pope, preventing effectually all appeals to Rome. 
After partly gaining over the States, partly freeing himself from 
their usurpation, he assembled them only when he required sup- 
plies, which he obtained to a larger amount than any of his pre- 
decessors, and when he was desirous of their concurrence in his 
opposing Edward, who had put an end to the peace of Bretigny. 
They heartily joined him ; and with their aid, supported by the 
country, he was enabled to reconquer all the territory which the 
treaty had given up. By his wise and successful administration 
he had materially increased the power of the Crown. When he 
avoided calling the States, he took counsel with the Prelates and 
men of personal distinction ; and he leant upon the Parliament 
as a body both less likely to control him and of more weight by 



454 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxvi. 

its composition as well as its judicial functions. He made, by 
" the plenitude of his royal authority," as it purports to be, his 
Ordinance for fixing at fourteen the majority of the Sovereign. 
During the last eleven years of his reign the States- General were 
never convoked, but he frequently had recourse to those of the 
Provinces. 

The Ordinance respecting the King's majority was set aside on 
Charles YI.'s accession. A regency being formed under the 
Due d'Anjou, the King was soon after crowned, and the govern- 
ment administered in his name (Note LXXII. infra). The Re- 
gent had possessed himself of the whole treasure left by his prede- 
cessor, and it became necessary to collect the taxes; but the 
Parisians revolted, and extorted an Ordinance abolishing all the 
imposts, without exception, laid on during the last sixty years, since 
the reign of Philip IV. (the Fair). The Nobles took the oppor- 
tunity to raise a mob against the Jews, and rob them of the title- 
deeds and other securities which they had given for borrowed 
money. The confusion into which the finances of the country 
were flung made a meeting of the States- General necessary. It 
was held at Compiegne, but no supplies could be obtained. Not- 
withstanding the repeal of the taxes, the Government continued 
to levy them by force wherever they dared. 

After reigning eleven years with an authority which his 

uncles frequently shared in opposition to his will, his reason, 

always feeble, gave way, and for the remaining thirty years of 

his life he was, with some lucid intervals, in a state of incurable 

madness, ending in imbecility. The quarrels and intrigues of 

the pretenders to the regency greatly increased the miseries of 

the country, which became the theatre of civil war. During this 

dismal period there were no meetings of the States, but one or 

two assemblies were held of the nobles and other persons of rank, 

with a number of citizens of Paris, at one of which the 
1410. . . ' 

King made an Ordinance revoking grants of places, and 

providing that the produce of taxes, as well as the profits of the 

royal domains, should be applied to the expenses of the war. 

However, one more meeting of the States-General — for such it 



lxvii. NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 455 

appears to have been, though some have supposed it to be only an 
assembly of Notables — was held before Henry's inva- 
sion, in the expectation that the wretched condition of the 
country might not be imputed to the conduct of the Government 
alone, but might be made to appear in part the work of its re- 
presentatives. The assembly was held at Paris, and consisted, as 
is said, only of the Prelates and Barons accustomed to attend the 
Court, with the Deputies of towns nearest the capital ; for the 
country was so divided among the forces of the contending 
Princes, that communication between its different provinces was 
almost entirely interrupted by the soldiery and the bands of 
robbers who everywhere infested it. The application for sup- 
plies to prepare against the threatened invasion was refused. 
The grievances of the people were detailed by the few who took 
part in the proceedings ; and a promise being given to take them 
into consideration, the meeting was dismissed. 



Note LXVII.— pp. 343, 349, 453. The Compagnies, 
Freebooters, or Robber-Bands. 

During the period to which we have been referring in the last 
note, the condition of the peasantry was truly wretched. The 
rise of the towns into importance, from the emancipation of their 
inhabitants and their acquisition of wealth, had been slowly but 
steadily going on during the twelfth and still more during the 
thirteenth century ; but very little change had taken place in the 
country, the inhabitants of which, for the most part, continued in 
a state of servitude. In France, however, as in other countries, 
manumissions became more frequent towards the end of the thir- 
teenth century ; and Philip the Fair, by one Ordinance, gave 
liberty to all the serfs in his domain of Languedoc, converting 
their services into a small money payment. His successor, 
Louis X., extended this to all the villeins of the Crown. 1 The 

1 Robertson (Charles V., book i. note xx.) has not referred to these Ordi- 
nances with his wonted accuracy. He considers them as a general law 



456 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxvii 

other Lords appear to have followed this example, and before 
the middle of the fourteenth century a great proportion of the 
peasantry were no longer in a state of servitude. But the imme- 
diate consequences of the change were far from proving bene- 
ficial. The poor serfs had not any desire to exchange their de- 
pendent but protected condition for a state of freedom l strange 
to them, and entailing self-defence and self-support ; while the 
owners of the soil, no longer regarding them as their property, 
felt neither the duty of assisting them nor the disposition to 
spare them. All the accounts which have reached us represent 
the condition of the peasants in that age as the most deplorable 
of which history affords any example. It had become a proverb 
that the peasant, Jacques Bonhomme, as he was called in deri- 
sion of his spiritless nature, could not be too harshly treated, and 
that he could only be made to give up his wretched savings by 
blows. The English invasion added to the miseries of his lot ; 
for first the ransoms of the Barons, if taken prisoners, must be 
paid by extortions from the peasantry, even when the ravages of 
war had not extended to the district ; and then the end of each 
campaign set free, from both armies, bands of ferocious soldiers, 
who, driving the trade of freebooters, were the terror of the whole 
country. The villages were deserted, and the towns crowded 
with starving fugitives. Even the neighbourhood of Paris was 
not safer than more remote districts ; and the greater part of the 
inhabitants of the Isle de France sought refuge within the walls 
of the capital. 

The disasters of 1356 and the disbanding of soldiers on both 
sides had greatly increased the numbers of the freebooters, now 



affecting all serfs in France, and states that no such, law is to be found in 
our statute hook. In fact, neither Philip nor Louis could do more than 
enfranchise their own serfs ; and the latter in his Ordinance only expresses 
his hope that " other Lords will follow his example." 

1 Not only serfs or villeins refused being emancipated, but free men often 
became serfs for the advantages of protection and support ; in the same way 
as owners of allodial property, at an earlier period, obtained infeodation for 
the like benefit of defence which they derived from it. 



lxvh. NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 457 

called the " Companies" 1 although the evil had existed in a 
considerable degree during the greater part of the war. They 
received further reinforcements when the civil war broke out in 
1358, by the quarrel between the Dauphin and the King of Na- 
varre. The peasants, driven to despair by the cruelty and pillage 
of these marauders, armed themselves in their own defence ; but 
exasperated likewise by the oppressions of the Barons and the 
refusal of the Government to protect them from the Companies, 
they attacked and plundered their chateaux, and committed every 
kind of excess. This Jacquerie, as it was called from the name 
given to the peasants, after producing great mischief and many 
murders, was in a few weeks put down by the union of all parties, 
French, Navarrese, and English, against the unarmed insurgents, 
of whom above 10,000 were massacred almost without resistance ; 
and the country which had chiefly been the scene of the insur- 
rection, the Isle de France, was left almost unpeopled. The 
peace after John's return added greatly to the force of the Com- 
panies, now composed of Germans and Brabanters, as well as of 
French. Their numbers amounted to 16,000. They were joined 
by some gentlemen and not a few officers, Their devasta- 
tions became more extensive ; they were indeed the curse of the 
country, assailing all persons and all property. An army of 
12,000 men sent against them, under Jacques de Bourbon, was de- 
feated and their commander slain. They were then bribed by large 
gifts of money to go and serve in Lombardy, under the Marquis 
of Montferrat, against the Barons ; but many of them returned, 
and, joining those who had refused to go, their numbers now 
amounted to 30,000. Their depredations were not confined to 
France : they attacked the dominions of the Emperor, who suc- 
ceeded in repulsing them, but they then laid France waste ; and, 
after an unsuccessful attempt, by the joint efforts of the Pope, 
the Emperor, and Charles V. of France, to make them serve the 

1 Separate companies were called Malandrins ; when several were united, 
sometimes as many as six or seven, they were called Grandes Compagnies. — 
Anc. Chron. de France. Malandrino, in Italian, meant robber. 



458 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, lxvii. 

King of Cyprus against the Turks, the latter prevailed on them 
to serve under Du Guesclin, in Spain. By their assistance, he 
succeeded in dethroning Pedro the Cruel, placing Henry of Tras- 
tamar in his stead. 

The Black Prince then obtained their services in Pedro's 
behalf, whom he had undertaken to restore ; nor is it easy to say 
whether the wickedness of the design, or the detestable agency 
which he employed in the execution of it, fixes a more indelible 
stain upon the memory of that Prince. The loss of the English 
conquests in the south of France could not, in all likelihood, 
have failed to punish their authors after no very long delay ; 
but Edward's conduct in this enterprise is justly believed 
greatly to have hastened that event. Historians are agreed in 
ascribing it partly to this cause, and partly to the insolent arro- 
gance of the English in their intercourse with their fellow subjects 
of France. — The Companies were reduced in the Spanish cam- 
paign to 6000 men ; and they resumed their vocation of plunder 
and massacre upon their return from the Peninsula. But Charles, 

now that their numbers were so much diminished, could 
1367. 

take effectual steps to curb and to disperse them, and 

they appear no longer in his reign to have ravaged and alarmed 
the country. 1 

It must be observed that the general habit of plunder which 
characterised the age was not "without its effect in producing this 
pest. The English expedition itself, both at first in the north 
and afterwards in the south, was undertaken wholly with the view 
of pillage, the absurd claim to the crown being only put forward 
as a cloak to cover the real object of the enterprise. The unex- 
pected accident of Philip's cruelty in massacreing his Genoese 
auxiliaries at Crecy, and the panic of the Dauphin and his Court 
at Poictiers, alone gave the war a serious aspect, because these 
unforeseen incidents rendered it possible for the invaders to make 
conquests. 2 Again, many of the persons who rose to the highest 

1 Mez., i. 846. P. Dan., vi. 30, 160. 

2 Mr. Hume takes this just view of both Edward's and Henry's wars 
(ch. xix.), though led away by the vulgar admiration of talents and success 



lxvii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 459 

ranks, both in the French and English armies, had begun their 
career as freebooters. The Constable Du Guesclin, as he became 
under Charles V., was originally a captain of Companies. It 
should seem that Sir Robert Knollys, who commanded against 
him on the side of Edward, at one time followed the same pro- 
fession. The great body which spread desolation through France 
and parts of Germany was joined by gentlemen, who partook 
eagerly of their plunder. Even ecclesiastics of some rank took 
part in these shameful excesses, as in a preceding age bishops 
had been found commanding bands of robbers. The alliance of 
the Black Prince with the Companies betokens the entire relax- 
ation of all principle and want of honourable feeling which 
prevailed, and shows the general impression on men's minds that 
robbery ceased to be a crime if it was attended with hazard — in 
other words, accompanied with bloodshed. A chronicler of those 
times, after relating that Charles's soldiers, when stationed to 
protect travellers, generally fell upon them like the freebooters, 
adds, that " knights, professing to be the King's friends, whose 
names he dares not mention, headed bands of those robbers, and 
were well known as such when they came to Paris, but no one 
ventured to denounce them ; " and as for Du Guesclin, after his 
services had been rewarded with a grant of the county of Lon- 
gueville, instead of driving the freebooters from the realm, as he 
had promised, he suffered his men to pillage the whole country, 
robbing also on the highway. 1 But perhaps there can be no 
better proof given of the systematic encouragement of robbery 
and violence than the clause which the States General insisted 
upon the Dauphin adding to the famous Ordinance which they 
extorted from him in 1357 ; full leave was given to all his subjects 
to take whatever booty they could seize from the enemy, without 
any control of the King's officers or any sharing of his troops, 
unless in so far as they had joined in the act of plunder. 2 

so far as (ch. xvi.) to consider the Black Prince a perfect character even for 
humanity. 

1 Contin. Gul. Nang., 154. 

2 Thibaudeau, Hist, des Etats Generaux, i. 149. This work has the merit 



460 NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. lxviii. 

Nothing could exceed the barbarity with which those desperate 
men carried on their warfare against all property, and indeed all 
life. The torments which they inflicted on their miserable 
victims to extort a confession where their effects were hid, or to 
make them ransom themselves, are described by all contemporary 
writers, as well as the wanton murders which they committed 
from the mere love of slaughter. Sauvages, in his notes to the 
Chroniques de Flandre (referred to in Note LXIX. infra), quotes 
an ancient poem, called Le Vceu du Heron, in which one of the 
brigand chiefs, 1338, under Robert d'Artois, makes his knights 
swear on a heron that in Edward III.'s service they will carry de- 
vastation into France, and neither spare " ne monasterie, ne autel, 
femme grosse, ne enfant que je puisse trouver, ne parent, ne 
amies." 



Note LXVIII.— p. 347. 

Considerable embarrassment is experienced, if not error intro- 
duced, in consequence of the inaccurate and various use of terms 
in the French finance of former times. The same word is used in 
different senses, and different words in the same sense. Thus, aide 
is sometimes used for any tax, sometimes for a subsidy or volun- 
tary gift — what in English history is termed a benevolence, and 

of giving a fuller account of the Ordinances than M. Sismondi and others ; 
but the want of particular reference to his authorities is a fatal defect ; and 
the inaccuracy to be found in many places begets a natural distrust where no 
voucher is referred to. Thus we find a statement in one place (i. 115) that 
Normandy and Picardy formed the greater part of the provinces of the 
Langue d'Oil ; and in another (i. 122) the author speaks of the Pays de 
Langue d' Oil and those of the Lois Coutumieres as different, the form of the 
expression clearly showing that this is not an error of Langue d'Oil for 
Langue d'Oc, but that he considered the latter as Pays de Coutumes. It 
may be added that the work is evidently written to support certain opinions 
connected with the political controversies of the day. However considerable 
may be its merits, no one can compare it in point of interest to the same 
author's Mem. sur la Convention et le Directoire, though it was hardly 
possible that this should not also bear the marks of his unavoidable preju- 
dices. It is nevertheless a valuable work. 



lxviii. NOTES AND ILLUSTEATIONS. 461 

in French a don gratuit. Its appropriate meaning is either the 
feudal aide due from the vassal according to custom, that is, by 
his tenure, and so due to the sovereign also in his capacity of 
lord ; or it is an aide which had its origin in that relation of lord 
and vassal, but which afterwards was taken independent of 
custom. But it is also usual to distinguish aides and taxes, 
describing the former as due by custom in ordinary times, and 
the latter as granted, or it may be levied without any grant, 
upon an extraordinary emergency. Then it is not uncommon to 
distinguish aides and taxes by referring the former to the feudal 
tenures, the latter to the mere relation between the sovereign 
and the subject, wholly independent of any feudal consideration. 
Sometimes they are opposed to taille, the term being used to desig- 
nate all taxes except the taille. 

But then that aide is the term frequently used where custom 
and service are out of the question is also certain. Thus, we 
find aides loyaux used to designate the general tax imposed by 
Louis VII. to defray the expenses of his Crusade ; and yet the 
definition of aides loyaux is (as the word implies) any tax 
imposed by law. These aides were originally voluntary, and 
termed droits de complaisance. Again we find aides raisonnables, 
which were those obtained on unusual occasions, as aide de Voste 
et chevauchee, for charges of war. It is sometimes stated that 
aide and tax differ in this, that aide is the duty imposed on sales 
(the alcavala introduced from Spain), and tax denotes other 
duties, either granted, or imposed without grant. Probably it is 
only meant by this statement to distinguish duties in the nature 
of excise and customs generally, that is, indirect taxation, or 
taxes on consumption, from direct taxes ; for certainly the alca- 
vala tax, though frequently imposed during the fourteenth and 
the very early part of the fifteenth century, never became a 
regular head of French finance ; and accordingly we find another 
use of the term {aides) as merely signifying duties on all goods 
sold within the realm, and levied on their passage either from 
abroad or to the market, as a transit duty, in contradistinction to 
the taille.— (Encyclo. i. 192 ; ii. 245.) 



482 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxviii. 

The taille stands in peculiar circumstances, and was on every 
account the most important of the duties, forming 1 , indeed, a 
much greater proportion of the revenue than any other. It was 
the remains of, or substitute for, the escuage or scutaye, which 
again was the substitute for personal service. It was also pro- 
bably taken in consideration of such services as escuage did not 
cover. Hence the nobles, who served in person, and by the men 
whom they furnished, were not liable to the taille ; nor were the 
ecclesiastics originally, they serving by their sacred functions. 
Afterwards they came to provide substitutes, and were liable to 
taille if they were married, being one-half of the amount which 
they would have paid if laymen. The clergy unmarried and not 
in any trade were wholly exempt. Exemptions were also enjoyed 
in right of office, as by the royal household, baillis, and others. 
The taille received its name from the notched sticks or tallies 
used in keeping the accounts of it, as they were till of late years 
in the English Exchequer, and as they still are by some trades, 
as that of baker in France and in Scotland. It was called also 
tolte (or taking), and, from its abuse, frequently called both in 
English and French legislative history male-tolte. It was either 
real or personal — more properly mixed — for it was either levied 
on real property or on persons in respect of their real property ; 
and it was intended to be taken in proportion to the profits 
made by the cultivation or farming of the property. The fiefs 
nobles did not pay it in any hands ; the fiefs roturiers in some 
provinces paid it even when in the hands of nobles. Those pro- 
vinces were Dauphine, Languedoc, Provence, and Guienne. Fiefs 
roturiers were, properly speaking, fiefs of subinfeudation, four 
steps from the grantor, the Prince, or fiefs held by some base 
tenure unconnected with military service, but to which, as to 
those from] subinfeudation, the taille had come to be extended by 
abuse. In some places both nobles and clergy paid taille for 
houses, where other real property was exempted in their hands. 
As the taille was a property-tax on the peasant or farmer's profits, 
in assessing him recourse was had to the value of his farm-stock? 
including implements as well as live stock, and hence he was in- 



lxviii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 463 

duced to have as small a stock as he possibly could, and to con- 
ceal by every contrivance what he was forced to have. The 
collection was much more oppressive in the provinces which had 
no States, but were under officers originally elective, and hence 
called elus, afterwards appointed by the crown. In provinces 
having States, these collected the taille ; in those having none, 
and also in Bretagne, which was a Pays d'Etats, the officers as- 
sessed, and it was done so harshly, that a village whose income did 
not exceed 4000 livres has been called upon to pay as much as 
7000 livres for taille. " If," says a writer on Finance, " an elu 
can but spy out a rag on a farm, he will make it the ground of a 
surcharge." There were 80,000 tax-gatherers of all kinds in 
France about the year 1760, and the taille had then increased to 
66,500,000, including 10,000,000 paid by the Pays d'Etats as 
their don gratuit to cover taille. The salaries of these officers 
were supposed to average 1000 fr. Before the revolution of 1789 
the taille had increased to more than double — -between 7,000,000 
and 8,000,000 sterling. The Ordinance of Orleans, in which it 
originated so far as it became yearly and perpetual, fixed it at 
1,200,000, and Charles VII. never raised it permanently. He 
only three times levied crues, or surcharges, on the ground of the 
estimate (prisee) having been too low, and that there was a press- 
ing necessity for supplies. Louis XL raised it to above four 
millions, and although the States of Tours in 1484, held upon his 
decease, reduced it, succeeding princes gradually increased it. 

The opinion that taille was first laid on by St. Louis in 1218 is 
wholly erroneous. The Ordinance of Philip-Augustus, called his 
Testament, in 1190, mentions it by name; but the charter given 
to Beauvais in 1060 exempts that town from taille in express terms. 

The very learned articles in the Encyclopedic on aids and taxes 
(vols. i. ii. and xv.) by Chev. de Jaucour, and especially those by 
M. Boucher d'Argis, well deserve to be studied. There is one 
statement of importance as to the taille which seems to be inaccu- 
rate. M. d'Argis says it was first made yearly and perpetual in 
1445, and was fixed at 1,800,000. It is possible this may only 
mean that Charles VII. 's carrying into effect, 1445, the Ordinance 



464 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxviii. 

of Orleans, 1439, when the States had granted the taille for the 
payment of the troops, had the effect of making the taille annual ; 
but it was certainly granted for that service in 1439. It was also 
only 1,200,000. This we learn from an unquestionable authority. 
There is no statement of the whole sum in the Ordinance of 
Orleans, nor are there any particulars preserved of it in the 
accounts of the States of 1439. But in the important procedings 
of the States of Tours, held in 1484 by Anne of Beaujeu acting 
as regent through the Princes on Louis XL's death, we find 
1,200,000 to be the sum stated as having been granted at 
Orleans — and the States insist on reducing it to that amount from 
4,404,000, which it had been increased to. They are called 
on to make it 1,500,000, but refuse — granting the additional 
300,000 only for two years. This appears in a MS. Latin account 
of that meeting of the States of Tours by Masselin, of which only 
an extract is published by Gamier and has been inserted in Col. 
des Et. Gen. x. 

The articles on States-General and Parliaments in the Ency- 
clopedic are by far the fullest and contain the most minute in- 
formation anywhere to be found, especially respecting Parliaments. 
M. d'Argis was an eminent lawyer, and held offices in the courts. 
He was also a legal antiquary of reputation. But he took the 
precaution, necessary when we consider the complexity of the sub- 
ject from the various bodies and their different practices as well 
as history, of consulting fully with all the most experienced of 
his brethren, judges as well as lawyers and office-bearers, upon 
the statements which he was preparing. 

The student of this subject may be permitted to lament that to 
its unavoidable difficulties there should be added one wholly un- 
necessary. It is well known that by an inconceivable absurdity 
the French year used to begin not with any fixed day, but with 
the moveable feast of Easter. Therefore when writers give a year 
without the month, it becomes most difficult to ascertain in which 
of two years an event happened. Thus M. d'Argis says the taille 
was made perpetual in 1445. If he had said in February, we 
should have known it was 1446 ; if he had said May, we should 



lxix., lxx. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 465 

have known he meant 1445. If he had said March or April, to 
ascertain the year, we must have calculated on what day Easter 
fell at that time. M. Sismondi, in his truly excellent Histoire 
des Francais, makes it a rule always to reduce the dates to the 
year beginning the 1st of January ; and accordingly in his whole 
thirty volumes the reader is never at a loss on this head. 



Note LXIX.— p. 341. 

The prevailing notion of Henry's gentleness and courtesy is 
by no means common to English and to French authorities. 

Reiffenberg has published (torn, i.) a curious MS. in the Biblio- 
theque de Bourgogne at Dijon, of which Sauvages in 1562 had 
given an incorrect publication at Lyons. It is entitled " Cro- 
nickes de Flanders Abbroghies." We find in ch. x. some curious 
particulars : — " Le Roy d'Engleterre (Henry V.) estoit orguellex 
en toutes riens, et ne daigner estre obeissant au Roy de France ; 
car il estoit assez plus ricces que luy ; et le Roy de France ne 
povit sceuffir l'orguel de luy. II estoit si riches qu'il avoit tous 
avalers et les bouciers avoce luy par son grand aver, et par ce 
cy endomagoit moult le royaume de France." Sauvages says in 
a note that these two words (avalers and bouciers) cannot be 
found anywhere else, and he conceives they apply to the coste- 
reaux mentioned in other chronicles. They were sometimes 
called retondeurs and ecorcheurs. Reiffenberg agrees in this, 
and holds avalers, from avaler, to mean " une engeance deVorante 
ou plutot destructive " (p. 60). The bouciers went round from 
country to country, before regular armies were introduced, 
offering their services. 



Note LXX.— p. 346. 

There were sixty general customs or sets of unwritten law ex- 
tending over whole provinces and great districts, and not less 
than three hundred customs peculiar to smaller districts, as lord- 

2 H 



466 NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. lxx. 

ships, towns, or villages. The province of Auvergne was in the 
worst situation of any — it had about a hundred customs, so that 
hardly a spot, not even the smallest village, but had a law of its 
own ; and the places in which the written and unwritten law, or 
different kinds of unwritten law, prevailed, often lay intersecting 
each other, so that inextricable confusion was produced. Where 
there was no coutumier, or digest of the customary law, on a dis- 
pute arising recourse was had to an enquete de tourbes, or inquest 
of the crowd, who reported what the reputation was as to the 
custom. The important measure of Charles VII., 1453, was 
but slowly executed ; for the first coutumier published after 1453 
was that of Ponthieu, which bears the date of 1495, and the 
whole collection was only completed in 1609. The course of 
proceeding in execution of Charles's Ordinance was most admi- 
rable. Each province distributed the task of ascertaining and 
digesting its customs among the judicial functionaries. Their 
reports were referred to a committee of Notables, who arranged 
the whole in a code. This was discussed by the States of the 
province, and the fact ascertained of the articles inserted being 
part of the ancient customary law, with the aid, if necessary, of 
enquetes de tourbes. The coutumier for the province was thus 
drawn up and registered by the Parliament on its approval. The 
Royal Commissioner, who presided over the meeting of the States 
in this proceeding, was of course obliged to rely upon the local 
officers for final revision and composition. In 1667 the enquetes 
de tourbes were abolished, and if any dispute should arise on an 
unwritten custom set up by either party, instead of the enquete 
there was required an acte de notoriete, or report of judicial 
officers upon a requisition from the tribunal. 

Louis XL first entertained the project of reducing the whole 
mass of customs into one general and uniform law for the realm. 
But it was reserved for Napoleon to carry this wise and most 
beneficial design into execution. 



lxxi., lxxii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 467 

Note LXXI.— p. 350. 

The Eel. de St. Denys, 1. xxxiv. ch. II and 13, informs us that 
when the mob broke into the Dauphin's palace, in 1413, they 
seized many ladies of the court, and hurried them away to prison, 
although none were put to death ; and that when Charles VI., on 
recovering from one of his attacks, went in state to Notre Dame 
(18th of May), the leader of the mob, Jean de Troyes. chief of 
the party of Butchers, with the Prevot des Marchands and others 
of the mob-leaders, made the unhappy Prince put on the chaperon 
blanc, the badge of the party of the Butchers. They made the 
principal courtiers and the rector of the University of Paris do 
the same. 



Note LXXII.— p. 330. 

Philip II. (Augustus) chiefly, and, after him and in part, his 
son Louis VIII., may be regarded as the founders of the mon- 
archy, at least of the feudal monarchy, of France. It is fit, 
therefore, that in tracing the subject of the Regency we begin 
with them. It had been usual for the Kings from the earliest 
times to associate their successors with them in the government, 
by having them crowned during their own lifetime, in order to 
obtain an additional security for their succession. Thus Charle- 
magne had his two infant sons (one of them three years old) 
crowned Kings of Italy and Aquitaine in 781 . But no provision 
had ever been made for a Regency in the event of the succession 
devolving upon a person incapable of governing from infancy or 
disease. Philip's father, Louis VII., had followed the course 
of crowning his son, but in consequence of his increasing infirmi- 
ties he had also abandoned the government to him at his coro- 
nation ; and Philip, though only fourteen years of age, governed 
in his stead during the few months that he survived (1179). 
Philip did not take the same precaution to secure his son Louis's 
succession, probably because from his early marriage the latter 
had grown to man's estate while he was himself in the vigour 

2 h 2 



468 NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. lxxii. 

of his years. At his decease Louis was thirty-six, and succeeded 
without opposition. 

In 1226 he made provision for a Regency in case of his suc- 
cessor's minority ; that Prince, afterwards Louis IX. (St. Louis), 
was only in his twelfth year at the death of his father, who made 
his prelates and barons swear to have him crowned, and ap- 
pointed the Queen-mother, Blanche of Castille, his guardian. 
By her judicious conduct, with her son's entire concurrence, she 
exercised all the powers of Regent without ever taking the name, 
and was supported by the baronage against the attempts of the 
King's uncle to obtain possession of his person and authority. She 
continued in fact Regent until Louis was twenty-one, and even 
after that period during her whole life exercised almost as much 
power as if he had continued under age. 

When he set out on his last crusade (1270) he appointed two 
of his grandees, a prelate and a baron, to govern in his absence. 
He died a few months after, and Philip III. (le Hardi), his son 
and successor, being in a dangerous state of health at his acces- 
sion, gave the Regency and Guardianship of his son to his brother, 
the Count d'Alencon, having however previously confirmed in 
their authority the two Regents appointed by his father, who were 
thus to continue in their office during his life, as long as he re- 
mained abroad. 

His son Philip IV. (the Fair), on his marriage in 1316, took the 
title of King, with the entire assent of his father, who died a few 
months after. 

Louis X. (Hutin) died in 1316, leaving two brothers of full 
age, but his wife was with child. Philip, the elder brother, 
assembled (says Gul. de Nang.) " parliamentum procerum et 
militum regni," who determined that he should be Regent until 
the Queen's confinement and birth of a son, and then until the 
son's eighteenth year. Some authorities make it twenty-four, at 
that time supposed to be the age of majority in the King's case. 
Philip took the title of Megens Regni, which has ever since been 
used. The Queen had a son, John II. (le Posthume), who lived 
only a few days, and Philip became King, to the exclusion of his 



lxxii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 469 

niece, then a child under six years of age. The grounds of this 
exclusion were sought in the Salic law by a gross perversion, 
indeed it may be said a fraud. First, that law is wholly silent 
on royal succession, and indeed contains no provision whatever 
of a constitutional kind. It only declares that Salic land, the 
land near the house, shall go to males and not females, in con- 
tradistinction to the other land, at that time occupied in common. 
Secondly, the Salic law was not the general law of the Franks, 
some living under the Ripuarian, some under the Burgundian 
law ; and it is certain that in all other countries females as well 
as males succeeded to the crown. Thirdly, there had in France 
been no instance, no precedent, to justify the exception thus 
made to the general law of Europe ; for no case had ever oc- 
curred of the heir apparent being a female on the decease of the 
King. But Philip had many advantages to aid his usurpation. The 
tender age of his niece, her being without protectors or partisans, 
his own position as having for some months before his brother's 
death administered the government, and his opportunity of thus 
taking possession by the forces under his control, all concurred 
to facilitate the enterprise ; and he obtained, after his coronation, 
the assent of the States, that is, a meeting of the northern 
prelates, nobles, and burgesses of Paris, there being none from 
the south. The Princes, the Royaux as they were called, gave 
a half-consent, as did the University of Paris, though it refused 
to swear allegiance. This proceeding fixed the law of the mo- 
narchy, which has never since been disputed. But no exclusion 
was ever even propounded of females from the Regency ; and 
nothing can more clearly show the absurdity of their exclusion 
from the throne. 

Charles IV. died in 1328, leaving no son, but his widow with 
child. The barons again assembled, and chose Philip (de Valois), 
great grandson of St. Louis and the heir presumptive, as Regent, 
who, on the Queen having a daughter, succeeded to the crown. 

His son John, succeeding in 1350, was taken six years after 
at the battle of Poictiers. His son Charles was under age, then 
understood to be twenty-one. He convoked the States, who 



470 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lxxh. 

separated without coming to any resolution. He again assembled 
them in 1357, and after a tumultuous meeting they extorted 
from him an Ordonnance appointing a Council of thirty-six, being 
twelve from each of the three orders. This was on the 6th of 
March; but on the 18th he had attained majority, and assumed 
the entire Regency, " as heir apparent, and by the advice of the 
prelates, barons, and commons." He did not ask their consent, 
but only their recognition. It is, however, to be observed that 
at the great States of Tours, in 1484, the proceedings of 1351 
were referred to as showing that the States had then conferred 
the Regency upon the Dauphin. In 1360 John came back, and 
the Regency ceased. But on his return to England, where he 
died 1364, the Dauphin again became Regent. The arrange- 
ments on Louis X/s death (1316), and on Charles IV.'s (1328), 
made no distinction between the Regency and the Guardianship. 
In 1374 Charles V.'s son was only six years old, and the King 
made an Ordonnance fixing the age of majority at fourteen, that 
is on the King entering his fourteenth year, instead of twenty- 
one, and appointed the Queen-Mother only Regent, the Dukes 
of Burgundy and Bourbon guardians with her. He died in 1380, 
Charles, his son, being only twelve. The Queen-Mother had 
died in 1377. Burgundy and Bourbon assumed the Guardianship, 
Anjou the Regency, but claiming both. Berri claimed with his 
brother Burgundy. No regard whatever was paid to Charles V.'s 
Ordonnance, which some considered as only a project, a plan 
never completed. There prevails indeed some doubt as to the 
tenor of this Ordonnance. Dupuy and Secousse, both professing 
to take it from the same source, the Tresors de Charles, give 
it very differently. Dupuy gives it as we have done; Secousse 
makes no mention of the government, only of the guardianship, 
which would seem to show that the Regency in Dupuy was an 
interpolation. The disputants agreed to refer their claims to 
arbitration, and the award, sanctioned and registered by the Par- 
liament, 2nd of October, 1380, directed that Charles, though only 
twelve years of age, should be immediately crowned ; that till 
then Anjou should be Regent ; and that then Anjou should 



Lxxn. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 471 

govern in his name, with the advice of his four uncles. He was 
crowned 3rd of November, and the four princes signed an act 
that Anjou should be Regent, but do no "grosses et pesantes 
besognes " without the consent of a council of twelve, of which 
he should be president, u selon son degre cfahiesse." The guar- 
dianship was to be in Burgundy and Bourbon, but all offices 
about his person to be filled with the consent of Anjou and Berri. 
This instrument, as well as the award, was registered. 

In 1393 Charles VI. made two Ordonnances, one giving to his 
brother Orleans the Regency in case he should die before his 
son was of age ; the other giving the Guardianship to the Queen- 
mother, along with his paternal uncles Burgundy and Berri, his 
maternal uncle Bourbon, and the Duke of Bavaria, his wife's 
brother, and appointing each in succession Guardian in the event 
of the Queen-mother's decease or marriage. The Ordonnances of 
1403 and 1407 are mentioned in the text, as is the Dauphin's 
(Charles VII.) proceeding on his father's death. His proclama- 
tion says, — " Connu assez qu'il a plu. a Dieu nous laisser seul 
fils de Monseigneur, son vraie heritier et successeur de sa 
couronne, et par ce ayons pris comme il nous appartenoit et 
appartient, et a nul autre, attendu les notoires exoines et em- 
pechemens de mon dit Seigneur, la regence et administration du 
Royaunie." 

Louis XL died in 1483, his son Charles VIII. being thirteen 
years and two months old. He was therefore, by the Ordonnance 
of 1374, of age, and there ought to have been no Regency ; still 
less by the more authoritative law of 1407, declaring the majority 
of the King at any age. But Louis wholly disregarded both the 
one and the other, and appointed his eldest daughter, Anne, wife 
of Pierre de Bourbon-Beaujeu (who was in her twenty-third year), 
to administer the government, having first exacted an oath from 
his son Charles, and his son-in-law d'Orleans, that they would 
submit to her. D'Orleans, however, disputed her title, and the 
States-General, in their great meeting at Tours, 1484, after long 
and violent debates, determined that she and her husband should 
remain about the King's person, and that he should conduct the 



472 NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS. lxxiii. 

government, but with the advice of the Council, which was to 
be composed of the princes of the blood, with twelve members 
of the States, chosen by the King and those princes. It was 
urged in the debate, by the d'Orleans party, that the Regency 
and Guardianship were matters, from the nature of monarchical 
government, wholly beyond the cognizance of the States, who 
could only make representation of grievances and discuss the 
imposition of taxes ; while others, with the concurrence of the 
Bourbon or Beaujeu party, asserted the right of the States to the 
fullest extent, and some even denied that the constitution recog- 
nised any such body as princes of the blood. 

These frequent appeals to the States on the subjects of Suc- 
cession and Regency in times of difficulty, owing to the sus- 
pension of the royal authority, are remarkable, and illustrate the 
proposition that in all periods of the French history the popular 
element existed in the government. 

The valuable paper of M. Oudart de Brequigny, Kecherches 
sur les Regences en France (Acad, des Inscr. L. 520), deserves 
to be consulted on this subject, because it brings together all the 
facts, but it gives nothing beyond a summary of them. It begins 
with the death of Louis X. (Hutin) in 1316; it is therefore 
deficient as to the preceding history ; and it gives an imperfect, 
indeed an inaccurate, account of the proceedings in 1484, pro- 
bably from Masselin's full account of that meeting not having 
then been published. An extract of it, taken from Garnier's 
publication, is given in Col. des Et. Gen. X. 



Note LXXIII.— p. 350. 

The references in this book are to the quarto edition of Mons- 
trelet, in three volumes, Paris, 1512, Petit and Michel. The first 
volume is divided into chapters, the second and third are not, but 
must be cited by the folio. The third begins with the year 1445, 
and, consequently, according to M. Dacier, is not Monstrelet's ; for 
he proves pretty clearly that, beside deducting the last thirteen 



lxxiii. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 473 

years from 1453, when Monstrelet died, the nine preceding years 
cannot be by him. This, therefore, would confine his work to 
the first two volumes (Mem. Ac. d'Inscriptions, xliii. p. 535). 

Johnes's translation is from another edition, possibly the 
folio one, and is divided into volumes and chapters of each volume. 
The quarto edition here referred to has 268 chapters in vol. I. 
By a mistake Chapter 113 succeeds Chapter 111 ; and therefore 
Chapter 116, instead of 115, answers to Chapter 115, Vol. I. of 
Johnes. Making this correction, the reader can easily refer 
from the chapters cited here to those in Johnes. There are very 
few references to the second volume of the quarto edition. — 
The references to Froissart are to the quarto edition, of which 
the first and second volumes, printed by Regnault, have no date ; 
the third and fourth, by Verendaux, have the date 1518. The 
whole four are without chapters, and only referred to by the 
folio. 

It is much to be lamented by the inquirers into the history of 
Charles VI. and Charles VII., that there should be so few 
papers on this period of French history to be found in that inva- 
luable repository of antiquarian learning, the ' Mem. de l'Aca- 
demie des Inscriptions ;' but some there are of considerable inte- 
rest. M. Bonamy's two Memoires in torn. xx. throw great light 
on the history and treatment of Jacques Coeur. M. Oudart de 
Brequigny's ' Recherehes sur les Regences en France ' (torn. li. 
520) has already been referred to (Note LXXIL). The me- 
moir of M. Boivin (Sur la Bibliotheque du Louvre) has also 
been already referred to (Note LXL). 

Two memoirs, ' Sur la Noblesse Francaise,' by M. Desormeaux 
(torn. xlvi. 632 et 657), deserve to be consulted, as does M. 
Sibert's ' Sur les Cours Plenieres' (torn. xli. 583). 



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